The third fight in Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder's heavyweight rivalry has been postponed as the coronavirus pandemic grips the United States and Britain, ESPN reported on Tuesday.
Britain's Fury, who dethroned unbeaten WBC champion Wilder with a dominant victory in seven rounds last month, had been due to defend his crown in Las Vegas on July 18.
But promoter Bob Arum told ESPN on Tuesday the rematch had now been rescheduled until October at the earliest because of the COVID-19 outbreak which has brought the sporting world to a standstill.
With travel restrictions affecting both the US and Britain, and Las Vegas' casinos shuttered, Arum said a postponement was the only sensible option.
"You could not guarantee the fighters that the event would take place on that date. We couldn't convince them or ourselves," Arum said.
"Where were they going to train for it? It just made no sense. You just have to take a step back. How are you going to sell tickets?
"It's absolutely ridiculous to say 

Fury-Wilder rematch postponed by virus pandemic

PTI Automatic

The president of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) said on Tuesday the postponement of the Tokyo Games is a chance for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to change the period of the year for the event.
Earlier, the IOC postponed this summer's Olympics due to the worldwide coronavirus pandemic to "a date not later than summer 2021".
FEI chief Ingmar de Vos urged the organisers to "find a date where there will be less heat and less humidity."
Next summer, the Games could be jostling for space in an increasingly crowded sports schedule that includes the world championships in both athletics and swimming as well as the football European championships, also postponed from this summer.
While World Athletics and swimming's governing body, FINA, quickly indicated they could move their events, the FEI, which has long been worried about the heat in Tokyo, lobbied for the Olympics to rethink its dates.
The Games had been scheduled for July 24-August 9, when ...

Tokyo 2020 postponement "opportunity" to change Games timing for equestrian chief

In Europe's biggest asylum seeker camp of Moria, on the Greek island of Lesbos, authorities are trying to keep residents apart from a population with at least three coronavirus cases.
But in a sprawling, overstretched facility that was already a health hazard before the virus made landfall in Greece, there is widespread concern.
"As you all know we are in corona time and... the (biggest) problem that we have is overcrowding inside these camps," Mohamed Omid, an asylum seeker from Afghanistan posted on Facebook Tuesday from inside Moria.
There have been 20 recorded deaths and 743 officially announced infections from the coronavirus in Greece, which has a population of 11 million.
Three of the cases have been reported among Lesbos islanders.
There are nearly 38,000 people crammed into overstretched refugee centres on the islands of Lesbos, Samos, Chios, Leros and Kos.
Moria alone has over 19,000.
The European parliament's civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee this week ...

'Corona time' in Europe's main migrant camp in virus lockdown

- The closure of Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York, because of coronavirus concerns has at least temporarily halted preparations there for the 2020 US Open.
The US Golf Association said in a statement to GolfChannel.com that it continues "to hold the dates for the US Open at Winged Foot in June" while it also monitors guidance and regulations from the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and state and local authorities.
In the meantime, work that had begun on tournament infrastructure such as corporate hospitality tents and grandstands has been halted.
The USGA acknowledged that the championship, scheduled for June 18-21, might have to be postponed, but said it was too soon to make that call.
"We are continuing to monitor the situation and making relevant contingency plans," USGA chief brand officer Craig Annis told the Journal News newspaper that serves Westchester County.
"We expect to make a decision sometime in the middle of April."
The first two .

New York virus lockdown puts US Open at Winged Foot in limbo

United States athletes welcomed the decision to postpone the Tokyo Olympics on Tuesday, exhaling a collective sigh of relief tinged with disappointment as they began to set their sights on 2021.
The deadly coronavirus pandemic has swept into all 50 states of America, leaving US athletes' years of carefully choreographed Olympic training plans in tatters.
Powerhouse swimmer Katie Ledecky, expected to be one of the stars of the Tokyo Games, had been left without a pool to train in as restrictions in California shut down the Stanford University facilities.
Track and field star Noah Lyles -- the reigning 200m world champion -- had been denied regular access to a running track. Instead Lyles, who suffers from allergies and asthma, had been forced to train in a Florida park.
Lyles and Ledecky's problems had become all too common for US athletes, who found themselves torn between the need to comply with local regulations restricting non-essential movement while simultaneously sticking to ...

Relieved US athletes welcome Olympic postponement

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has instructed clubs to close all team facilities, stepping up league efforts to combat the spread of new coronavirus.
According to a memo sent to all league clubs and reported on NFL.com, the shutdowns will continue to at least April 8.
Goodell told the teams the rules are meant to "ensure that all clubs operate on a level playing field, and that the NFL continues to conduct itself in a responsible way at this time."
All NFL clubs had already suspended normal business operations and barred players from team facilities unless they were there to receive medical treatment.
Most if not all clubs had a limited number of staff working in their offices even as health authorities around the United States recommended people stay at home in a bid to slow the spread of the virus.
Now Goodell has told clubs that from Wednesday night the only personnel allowed at team facilities will be those providing ongoing medical treatment to players, and those required to ...

NFL instructs clubs to close team facilities

Japan's media and athletes reacted with disappointment Wednesday to the postponement of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, but expressed relief the Games had not been cancelled altogether over the coronavirus pandemic.
The postponement, unprecedented in peacetime, came after heavy pressure from athletes around the world and followed an admission from Japan's prime minister that a delay was now "inevitable".
But there was still shock and disappointment in Japan, where the Games have been promoted as the "Recovery Olympics", intended to showcase reconstruction after the devastating 2011 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disaster.
The Nikkei business daily said Japan had avoided the worst-case scenario of a cancellation, but "it is like all the efforts of the last seven years are now back to square one".
"It is inevitable that huge additional costs will emerge," it added.
The Tokyo Shimbun headlined its coverage "surprise and embarrassment", but conceded in an article that the situation left ...

'Back to square one': Olympic delay puts Japan in a spin

US sprint star Allyson Felix says she'll continue her pursuit of Olympic glory despite the postponement of the Tokyo Games in the face of the coronavirus pandemic.
After 16 years at the pinnacle of her sport, the 34-year-old American is in the last lap of a glittering career that has seen her earn 13 World Championship titles and six Olympic golds -- the most of any female track and field athlete.
"I am not sure what the future holds, but my goals have not changed," she wrote in an article posted on Time.com on Tuesday, after the International Olympic Committee confirmed the Tokyo Olympics would be pushed back to "no later than summer 2021."
"I still hope to experience the feeling of standing on that podium in 2021 and I hope my journey to try to get back there will inspire you to keep moving forward." Felix said that after learning the Games would be postponed she felt "alone, afraid and unsure."
She noted that the news would resonate differently with diehard sports fans, casual ...

Felix's Olympic dream endures despite Tokyo delay

US Swimmer Ryan Lochte's Olympic window may be closing, but the 35-year-old says he's ready to push on another year after the 2020 Tokyo Games were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
"I was a little pissed off because I've been training my butt off and I've been feeling great," the 12-time Olympic medalist told the Los Angeles Times on Tuesday.
"This Olympics was going to be the most important of my career because of everything that's happened in my past.
"But this whole thing is way bigger than me," Lochte added. "It's way bigger than the Olympians, it's affecting the entire world right now." Lochte won the first of his six Olympic gold medals as a relay swimmer in Athens.
More gold followed in Beijing in 2008, London in 2012 and Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
But he was suspended from swimming for 10 months after a scandal at Rio, when he was found to have fabricated a story about a robbery during a drunken late-night episode in the Olympic host city.
He received a further ...

US swimmer Lochte ready to set sights on 2021

Japan set about the unprecedented task of reorganising the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Wednesday after making the tough decision to postpone the Games by a year as the coronavirus pandemic locks down one third of the planet.
The dramatic step to shift the Olympics, never before seen in peacetime, upends every aspect of the organisation -- including venues, security, ticketing and accommodation.
In a move symbolic of the difficulties now facing Tokyo, Olympic countdown clocks in the city switched from displaying the number of days to go, instead simply showing today's date and the time.
"It's like taking seven years to build the world's biggest jigsaw puzzle and, with just one piece to go, having to start again but now with less time to finish," tweeted Craig Spence, spokesman for the International Paralympic Committee.
It is not even clear exactly when the rescheduled Games will take place, with the International Olympic Committee saying the new date would be "beyond 2020 but not later than ..

Tokyo begins Olympic task of reorganising Games

Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has donated one million euros ($1.08 million) to help buy medical supplies for the fight against the coronavirus pandemic in his native Spain.
The former FC Barcelona boss gave the money to the Medical College of Barcelona to buy "medical equipment that is currently lacking in health centres in Catalonia," the body said in a statement.
His donation will also be used to produce ventilators to treat patients and protective gear for health care workers in Guardiola's northeastern region of Spain.  Meanwhile Barcelona's Hospital Clinic said it had received a donation from FC Barcelona captain Lionel Messi to help it fight the virus.
"Thank you Leo, for your support and commitment," the hospital added in a tweet.
While the hospital did not say how much money the player donated, Catalan sports daily Mundo Deportivo said it was one million euros.
With the pandemic spreading across the world, Spain has been one of the worst-hit countries, logging the third .

Guardiola donates one million euros to fight coronavirus in Spain

Billions in economic aid announced last week by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to help Canadians deal with the coronavirus pandemic hit a snag Tuesday when opposition parties rejected giving his minority government unprecedented spending powers.
Thirty-two members of Parliament, proportionally representing each party instead of the full 338, gathered in Ottawa for a vote on the emergency measures.
But opposition Conservatives balked at additional provisions giving Trudeau's Liberals unlimited borrowing and spending powers for 21 months without oversight.
Parliament had been suspended from March 13 through April 20, but reconvened only to approve the cash injection to help individuals and businesses.
At a news conference, Conservative leader Andrew Scheer said his party supports the Can$82 billion (US$57 billion) in aid to help Canadians through this pandemic -- including nearly one million who have been laid off following temporary closure orders given to many businesses.
But he said ..

Canada's coronavirus economic aid package delayed

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro lashed out Tuesday at what he called "scorched-earth" quarantine policies to contain the coronavirus pandemic, saying they risked wrecking the economy.
Never one to shy from controversy, the far-right leader condemned the containment measures taken by authorities in places such as Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, saying they risked killing people's jobs in a misguided effort to save lives.
"Some state and local authorities need to abandon the scorched-earth concept: blocking transport, closing businesses and confining people en masse," he said in a national address.
"We need to preserve jobs and families' livelihoods." Bolsonaro, 65, has repeatedly courted controversy with his statements on the new coronavirus, calling it a "little flu" that has provoked an "overblown" reaction.
His latest comments came the same day the city and state of Sao Paulo, Brazil's economic capital, began a partial quarantine in a bid to slow transmission of the virus.
The ...

Bolsonaro slams 'scorched-earth' virus quarantines

The first known death of a child due to the novel coronavirus in the United States was a teenager in previously good health, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Tuesday.
The death of the youth from Lancaster, just north of Los Angeles, was reported hours earlier by public health officials, and comes despite the disease not typically proving severe for juveniles.
"A teenager in good health, succumbed to this virus," said Garcetti.
"To the young people that are out there -- this can hit you too. Know that your behavior can save a life, and can take a life. And that life could be yours," he added.
The victim's identity and sex were not specified.
"COVID-19 does not discriminate by age, race or income level," said Los Angeles County public health director Barbara Ferrer, using the scientific term for the disease caused by the SARS-coV-2 virus.
Multiple studies have found COVID-19 disproportionately affects older patients and those with underlying conditions.
A recent Centers for Disease .

First known US child virus death was teen 'in good health'

Saudi Arabia's King Salman will chair an emergency virtual summit of leaders from the Group of 20 major economies on Thursday to discuss a global response to the coronavirus pandemic.
World leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, will take part in the talks which the Kremlin said will take place by videoconference.
"King Salman will chair the meeting to advance a coordinated global response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its human and economic implications," said a statement released by Riyadh early Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia, which currently holds the G20 presidency, last week called for the "virtual summit" following some criticism that the group has been slow to address the global crisis.
The G20 members will be joined by leaders from other affected countries including Spain, Jordan, Singapore and Switzerland.
Leaders from international organisations such as the United Nations, World Bank, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Trade Organization (WTO) will also .

Saudi king to chair G20 video talks on coronavirus

The UN Security Council met for the first time in its history via videoconference on Tuesday due to the coronavirus crisis -- but diplomats said the meeting was not without technical difficulties.
The meeting -- informal talks on the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo -- was meant to serve as a test run, one diplomat said, and thus was not listed on any official agenda.
The ambassadors and deputies all logged in from home, and the media had no access.
"It was a bit improvised. We're going to keep chipping away at it, but we'll get there," one diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"It's better to work in the bare minimum conditions than not at all," the source added, regretting that the Council -- which is presided over by China this month -- was not more active since its last meeting at UN headquarters on March 12.
Tuesday's videoconference talks lasted more than four hours -- and included a discussion after the session on DRCongo about how the Council can keep ...

UN Council meets by videoconference -- with a few hiccups

Ninety-two Chadian soldiers have been killed in the deadliest attack ever by Boko Haram jihadists on armed forces in the country, President Idriss Deby Itno has said.
The attack is part of an expanding jihadist campaign in the vast, marshy Lake Chad area, where the borders of Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria converge.
Boko Haram launched an insurgency in Nigeria in 2009 before beginning incursions in its neighbouring countries to the east.
"We lost 92 of our soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers," in the attack overnight Sunday in Boma, the president said on Tuesday.
"It's the first time we have lost so many men," he added, after visiting the site of the attack in the Lac province, which borders Niger and Nigeria.
The attack on soldiers on the Boma peninsula lasted at least seven hours, and reinforcements sent to help out were also targeted, one soldier told AFP.
He said 24 army vehicles were destroyed, including armoured vehicles, and captured military arms were carried ..

Boko Haram attack kills 92 Chadian troops: President

Madrid's massive annual Gay Pride march, which was scheduled to be held on July 4 this year, has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic, organisers have said.
The event will be "postponed due to the exceptional circumstances we are experiencing" since "people's health and safety is the priority," the organising committee said in a statement on Tuesday.
The march "will take place when the sanitary and security conditions are adequate and this is guaranteed by health authorities and security forces," it added.
The Spanish capital's annual gay pride march is one of the largest in the world, drawing hundreds of thousands of people and dozens of floats.
Madrid and the rest of Spain have been on a lockdown since March 14 to try to curb the spread of coronavirus, with people only allowed out of their homes for essential reasons like buying food and medicine.
Spain has so far lost 2,696 people to the virus, with 60 per cent of the deaths in Madrid and the surrounding ...

Madrid postpones July gay pride march due to coronavirus

An Algerian appeals court on Tuesday sentenced a key figure in the country's anti-government protest movement to a year in prison, a lawyer and a rights group said.
Karim Tabbou has played a leading role in the mass protests that have rocked the North African country for more than a year.
On March 11 he was handed six months in prison and an additional six-month suspended sentence for "undermining national unity".
The Algerian League for the Defence of Human Rights (LADDH) said at the time he would be released on March 26 for time served since he was detained in September.
But on Tuesday morning, his lawyers were summoned to an unscheduled court hearing.
"The judge didn't want to listen, and withdrew to deliberate," defence lawyer Amine Sidhom told AFP.
"When he got out, he announced a sentence of a year in prison." Said Salhi, vice-president of LADDH, told AFP he was "shocked".
"We are stunned by what is happening, not only to Karim Tabbou but to the Algerian justice system. It's ...

AFP

AFP

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