News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. March 20, 2020: AS COVID-19 cases across the region continue to uptick, sporting events across the Caribbean and in its Diaspora are also being canned.
The 35th annual 2020 CARIFTA has been postponed due the novel coronavirus Pandemic. The Games was scheduled to take place in Bermuda this April10-13, 2020. The news came as the Cayman Islands joined Antigua and Barbuda, and the Bahamas in withdrawing from the competition.
“We would have never predicted an occurrence of this magnitude a week ago. We were deep in preparations making our final adjustments,” The Bermuda National Athletics Association said in a statement. “We were ready to host the 2020 CARIFTA Games and ready to welcome the 27 countries to our shores.”
Bermuda has remained coronavirus free.
CRICKET
Cricket West Indies (CWI) has also taken the decision to suspend all CWI Tournaments and face-to-face group meetings for a minimum of 30 days, beginning on Monday March 16th.
Suspended are the:
Final two rounds of the West indies Championship – 26th to 29th March and 2nd – 5th April
The Women’s CMI Super 50 Cup, Guyana – 27th March to 12th April
Regional Under 15s Boys Championship, Antigua – 9th to 20th April
Regional Under 19s Girls Championship, Trinidad – 6th to 12th April
CWI has also advised all territorial boards and local cricket associations to follow the advice of their respective ministries of health.
ATHLETICS
The Jamaican government as well as ISSA and Sponsor, GraceKennedy have also canceled this year’s staging of the Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships in Jamaica and all participation at the Penn Relays since last week.
Then on Friday, March 13th, Team Jamaica Bickle announced it was also pulling out of the Penn Relays. On Monday, March 16th, The Division of Recreation and Intercollegiate Athletics at the University of Pennsylvania announced that the 126th running of the Penn Relays will be canceled for the first time in its history this year.
The Penn Relays, which has been contested uninterrupted since 1895 and celebrated its 125th consecutive running last year. It was set for April 23rd through 25th.
The Grenada Athletic Invitational has also been cancelled.
And the first three meets of the 2020 Wanda Diamond League season, scheduled for April 17 in Qatar and May 9 and 16, 2020 in China, are also canned.
Meanwhile, as uncertainty swirls around the Summer Olympics in Japan, President of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) Christopher Samuda said the JOA is willing to withdraw Jamaica’s athletes from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics if, in light of the evolving Coronavirus pandemic, Japan was not able to guarantee their health and safety.
SOCCER
Concacaf has also postponed the following competitions scheduled to take place over the next 30 days:
2020 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League
2020 Concacaf Men’s Olympic Qualifiers
First Round of the Concacaf 2021 Gold Cup Qualifiers
2020 Concacaf Caribbean Club Shield
Globally, the Football Association has agreed to extend the 2019-2020 season indefinitely, while prolonging the suspension of all its leagues until at least April 30th.
Last week, the FA halted the Premier League, the English Football League, domestic cup competitions and the women’s professional game in response to the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on the sporting world.
