Latest - New Zealand Rugby League has postponed the Oceania Cup International Test matches scheduled for June between the Kiwis and Tonga Invitational XIII and the Kiwi Ferns and Fetu Samoa due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Photo: PHOTOSPORT
NZRL is in discussions with the Asia Pacific Rugby League Confederation regarding potential postponement options.
NZRL ceo Greg Peters said these are unprecedented measures that had to be taken.
"With the recent announcement on mass gatherings and the unpredictability of this pandemic, the safety and well-being of our players, staff and supporters remain a priority.
"We are also very conscious of the current demand on some of our players due to the travel restrictions in place which we will be taking into full consideration going forward.
"Even if restrictions were to be lifted before the event date, it still is not feasible to undertake the work required now to deliver matches in June amid the current uncertainty.
"The best-case scenario is our calendar is postponed, depending on what the NRL season looks like the back end of the year, but of course, we cannot guarantee anything at this stage."
Bogut blasts Australia league over coronavirus response
Sydney Kings centre Andrew Bogut has slammed Australia's National Basketball League (NBL) for its handling of the coronavirus situation, saying the administration had failed to be proactive and had left players feeling like "pawns".
Andrew Bogut Photo: © Photosport Ltd 2018 www.photosport.nz
The NBL called off its 'Grand Final' championship series between Sydney and the Perth Wildcats on Tuesday after the Kings pulled out following Game Three citing health risks and the concerns of foreign players and staff who wanted to return home.
On Thursday the league awarded the championship to the Wildcats, who led the best-of-five series 2-1.
Bogut said the league had made no contact with the players in the days leading up to the Kings' withdrawal, despite sports across the globe cancelling or postponing competitions and major events due to the coronavirus.
"You don't want to feel like a pawn in an organisation," the 35-year-old said.
"And I think that's what a lot of players felt, was that we haven't even been given an afterthought."
Taumalolo stars in NRL's first closed-doors match
Jason Taumalolo was the standout player as the North Queensland Cowboys beat the Canterbury Bulldogs 24-16 in the NRL's first closed-doors match.
Jason Taumalolo Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Taumalolo played a big part as the Cowboys ran in four first- half tries to all but seal the game.
The Cowboys lock ran 304 metres in total, the most by a forward since Steve Price in 2007.
A total of 241 people were at the ground including players, with all asked questions as they entered the one open door about their health and travel history.
The Warriors play the Raiders on the Gold Coast tomorrow.
-NRL
English football suspension extended
English football will be suspended until at least April 30 because of the continued spread of coronavirus.
All games in England's Premier League, EFL, Women's Super League and Women's Championship, and all fixtures in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, are currently postponed.
The Football Association has also agreed that the current season can be "extended indefinitely".
Under current rules the season had been scheduled to end on June 1.
A joint statement issued by the FA, Premier League and EFL expressed "a commitment to finding ways of resuming the 2019-20 season" and completing all domestic and European matches "as soon as it is safe and possible to do so".
The postponement of Euro 2020 has opened up a window for domestic league fixtures to take place in June.
However, the UK government has effectively banned sports events for the time being by advising against mass gatherings.
-BBC
Three more Grands Prix postponed
The Dutch, Spanish and Monaco Grands Prix have been postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak, Formula 1 bosses have announced.
The first four races in Australia, Bahrain, Vietnam and China had already been called off due to the pandemic.
The sport's governing body, the FIA, says it expects the 2020 season to begin "as soon as it is safe to do so after May".
And it will look at "potential alternative dates later in the year".
A year has to have a minimum of eight grands prix to count as a World Championship.
F1 has a working plan to try to start the season with the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on 7 June, but this may not be possible given the rapidly escalating coronavirus problem around the world.
Bosses are considering all possibilities - it is likely races will be run on a number of consecutive weekends, and be grouped together geographically as much as possible to facilitate that approach.
And some races are more likely than others to fall by the wayside as the calendar shifts.
The most vulnerable are the Monaco, Spanish, Brazilian, Chinese and Australian Grands Prix.
-BBC
Tigers open season with a win
Champions Richmond have beaten Carlton in front of an empty Melbourne Cricket Ground.
In the opening game of the AFL season, the Tigers made it 10 wins in a row against the Blues, kicking off the AFL season with a 16.9 (105) to 12.9 (81) victory.
Under normal circumstances Richmond would have unfurled their 2019 premiership flag in front of their adoring Tiger Army before the game.
-AFL
Japan receives Olympic flame
Tokyo 2020 organisers received the Olympic flame in a scaled-down handover ceremony in the Greek capital, amid the coronavirus spread that has cast doubt on the global, multi-billion dollar event.
In a brief ceremony closed to spectators in Athens' Panathenaic stadium, site of the first modern Games in 1896, the torch was received by Tokyo Games representative Naoko Imoto.
It will arrive in Japan today and kick off a domestic relay on March 26, with the Games set to take place from July 24-Aug. 9.
A six-day torch relay through Greece was cancelled last week, with the country largely in lockdown having recorded 418 cases of the virus and five deaths.
The International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government, however, have insisted the Games will go ahead and have publicly rejected any talk of cancellation or postponement.
-Reuters
