The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

The World Athletics announced yesterday that the 2020 World Athletics Indoor Championships, scheduled for Nanjing, China, March 13-15, has been postponed until 2021 because of the coronavirus.

The World Athletics, headed by Lord Sebastian Coe, was formerly called the International Amateur Athletic Federation.

On receiving the news, Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations president Drumeco Archer said while they were in the process of preparing a team to compete in both the individual and relay events, they will have to refocus their energy on other events to get the athletes ready for the trek to Tokyo, Japan, for the 2020 Olympic Games, July 24 to August 9.

Among the meets in their reach for participation are the Texas Relays, scheduled for March 25-28, Florida Relays, set for April 2-4 and both the Penn Relays and Drake Relays, which will be held over the weekend of April 22-25.

"We will take those opportunities to try and qualify teams for the Olympic Games and of course, we will look for alternative meets for athletes who are looking for events to sharpen themselves as it relates to Toyko."

During their executive meeting, Archer said they had discussions about whether or not they would have taken a team to Nanjing in face of the coronavirus, which has already killed hundreds of people in China.

"Without any written official announcement, the board determined that we should not take a team, although we had not made that announcement," he said. "So we are consistent with the view of World Athletics and I think it was a wise decision to postpone the games until next year, although next year will bring forth its own challenges because it would be the first time that we had the World Indoors and the World Outdoor Championships, all in one year."

From a personal perspective, Archer said he feels the coronavirus is a "walking time bomb" and it could annihilate a lot of the world population if it is not carefully monitored and handled, especially with the World Athletics comprising of 205 nations.

In its statement, World Athletics said with regret, they have agreed with the organisers to postpone the championships until next year with a new date not yet determined.

"We know that China is doing all it can to contain the new coronavirus and we support them in all their efforts but it is necessary to provide our athletes, member federations and partners with a clear way forward in what is a complex and fast-moving set of circumstances," World Athletics said.

"The advice from our medical team, who are in contact with the World Health Organisation, is that the spread of the coronavirus both within China and outside the country is still at a concerning level and no one should be going ahead with any major gathering that can be postponed."

World Athletics indicated that they considered the possibility of relocating the event to another country and they thanked the cities that volunteered to host the championships.

However, given concerns still exist regarding the spread of the virus outside China, they decided not to go with this option, as it may lead to further postponement at a later date. "The indoor season for athletics falls within a narrow calendar window (up to the end of March) and we believe we will be able to find a suitable date in 2021 to host this event," the World Athletics said. "We would like Nanjing to be the host given the extensive planning and preparation they have put into this event."

World Athletics said they are committed to working with their athletes, their partners, and the Nanjing organising committee to secure a date in 2021 to stage this big event.