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| Players of the Samsung Blueminx and Busan BNK Sum face off in the Women's Korea Basketball League match at the Yongin Gymnasium on Feb. 23. The game was played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus. / Yonhap |
By John Duerden
There is not much soccer being played in East Asia with the continued spread of the coronavirus. While there are obviously bigger issues at stake than sport, it has caused a headache in South Korea.
Postponing the start of the K-League season ― which was due to kick off last Saturday ― was a relatively easy decision to make. It had to be done given the rise in the number of cases in the country but domestic calendars can be controlled to an extent.
It may well be April or even later by the time soccer games can take place in the country. The K-League can tweak the schedule and while it may mean a busy few months later in the year, few will mind that.
International commitments are trickier to rearrange.
There are even concerns about the Olympics that are due to start in July in Tokyo. The official stance is that everything will go ahead as normal but International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Dick Pound told the BBC last week that there is still time. If the situation does not improve, eventually however, a decision will have to be made.
"You could certainly go to two months out if you had to," Pound said. "A lot of things have to start happening. You've got to start ramping up your security, your food, the Olympic Village, the hotels, the media folks will be in there building their studios.
"This is the new war and you have to face it. In and around that time, I'd say folks are going to have to ask: 'Is this under sufficient control that we can be confident about going to Tokyo, or not?'"
Much depends on individual governments.
"We're pretty good at dealing with sport problems, but a pandemic is beyond our pay grade," Pound said. "It will depend on the WHO to make a call with respect to international travel and the places that should be avoided. It may come down to a government intervention in Japan, or other governments saying 'we don't want our citizens travelling there.'"
The men's soccer team has already qualified for the tournament and is aiming for a medal and military exemption, which would be huge for the careers of the players. The women have a playoff against China that has been moved to April with the winner going to Tokyo. The Chinese leg has already been moved to Australia. China doesn't want to travel to Korea for the first game and the city of Yongin does not want to host it either, despite the fact it will be played behind closed doors.
And then there is qualification for the 2022 World Cup. Korea is supposed to host Turkmenistan on March 26 and then travel to Sri Lanka five days later. It is hard to imagine how the first game can take place at home. It could be that the whole round of games will be rescheduled around the continent.
The Asian Champions League is just about limping on. The two games due to take place in Korea this week ― FC Seoul vs Chiangrai United of Thailand and Ulsan Horangi vs Australia's Perth Glory ― have been rearranged. At the moment, the Suwon Bluewings will go to Malaysia to face Johor Darul Tazim and Jeonbuk Motors will go to Australia to play Sydney FC but the situation is still fluid.
Nobody knows what is going to happen.
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