Chronicle Editor
A FED Cup tennis tournament has become the latest sporting event in China to be moved or postponed because of coronavirus.
The Asia/Oceania Group I event was scheduled for the city of Dongguan from 4-8 February.
Instead it will now be played in Nur-Sultan in Kazakhstan on the same dates.
Football, boxing and basketball are among the other sports to be affected.
Group B in the third round of the AFC Women’s qualification tournament for this summer’s Tokyo Olympics from 3-9 February, originally set to take place in Wuhan, the city where coronavirus broke out, has now been moved to Sydney.
Wuhan was also lined up to host the Asia/Oceania qualifiers for the Olympic boxing competition from 3-14 February. That has been postponed with no new host venue announced.
In domestic sport, the Chinese Super Cup football match between Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai Shenhua on 5 February has been postponed, along with the start of the Chinese Basketball League.
The Asian Champions League play-off between Shanghai SIPG and Buriram United of Thailand will take place on Tuesday, but will be played behind closed doors.
So far, 56 people have died from coronavirus, and there have been almost 2000 cases as authorities try to prevent the spread of the disease, with significant travel restrictions in place across a number of Chinese cities. — BBC Sport
Online Reporter