The upcoming combined shooting World Cup in New Delhi was on Friday postponed, while an Olympic test event in Tokyo stood cancelled due to the global Coronavirus outbreak.
The tournament, sanctioned by the International Shooting Sport Federation, was to be held from March 15 to 25 in the capital’s Dr Karni Singh Shooting Range.
A statement from ISSF on its website read: “The Organizers of the World Cup in New-Delhi have addressed the ISSF with a proposal to postpone the tournament from the second half of March to the later dates when the situation with COVID-19 virus may become better and all athletes who would like take part in the World Cup could do it. In particular, it is proposed to divide the World Cup in two parts and hold Rifle and Pistol competitions on May 5-12, 2020, while Shotgun competitions – on June 2-9, 2020.”
The Olympic Test event was scheduled to be held from April 16. “The tournament in Delhi will now be held in two parts before the Olympic Games. Dates for the events will be announced shortly,” a National Rifle Association of India official said.
The decision comes after the government imposed several restrictions on the entry of travellers from affected countries such as China, Italy, South Korea, Japan and Iran, in a bid to contain the coronavirus outbreak. In all, 22 countries had pulled out of the event, an official in NRAI told PTI.
“While 22 was the last count till Thursday night, some counties who had withdrawn, have also re-applied for visas,” the official said.
The government’s list of guidelines also states that the visa of all foreign nationals, who have visited the affected countries in the year 2020 and have not yet landed in India, will be cancelled. The Delhi event was to be a combined World Cup for rifle/pistol and shotgun shooters.
In the wake of the Coronavirus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year, many sporting events across the world have been either cancelled or postponed in recent weeks. Last week, India pulled out of the ISSF World Cup in Cyprus, citing the coronavirus threat.
The outbreak has so far claimed more than 3000 lives and infected close to 100,000 people across the world. The International Shooting Sport federation had on Wednesday announced that the World Cup in Delhi won’t carry ranking points because athletes from all countries cannot participate following the health advisory issued by the Indian government.
