Remainder of 2019-20 WCBA season cancelled in China

Chinese Basketball Association on Wednesday announced the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 Women's Chinese Basketball Association (WCBA) season. Final standings of the season are confirmed to be those after 18 rounds of action, meaning that Beijing came out the winner, followed by Dongguan and Jiangsu, reports Xinhua news agency. China's basketball's governing body explained that the decision was made after comprehensive consideration. The 2019-20 WCBA season was halted early in January after 18 rounds to give China's national players more time to prepare for the Olympic qualifications in February, while failing to resume its action due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the pandemic has been basically under control in China, many people see a glimpse of WCBA's resumption, especially when men's league is set to return on June 20. However, as women's basketball qualifiers for the 14th National Games are slated in August, and the 2020-21 season will kick off in September, China's basketball governing body had to announce the cancelation 'on the basis of comprehensive analysis and communication'. The coronavirus pandemic has brought the entire world to a standstill and the sporting arena is no exception. Most of the high profile tournaments including the Olympics stand postponed. Even the biggest cricketing spectacle on the planet, the Indian Premier League (IPL), stands suspended indefinitely owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Recently, Bundesliga became the first high-profile sporting event to resume after a 65 day period with almost no sporting activity. Serie A, La Liga and Premier League are all expected to resume this month. A few cricketing boards around the world have only recently granted permission to their players to resume training. The move to restart sporting leagues and tournaments come after governments are beginning to realise that the coronavirus is here to stay for quite some time and sports among other businesses will need to find a way to co-exist with it. The virus has already infected more than 7 million people around the world while claiming over 4 lakh lives. There is still no sure shot treatment of the disease and social-distancing, self-isolation and maintenance of basic hand hygiene remain the only potent weapons of protecting oneself from contracting the infection.
Courtesy of: thestatesman.com