Postponements and resumption: A turbulent year of 2020 for sports world

The year was off to a usual start with Australian Open, followed by crowded football leagues and cricket matches going on as usual. 

Football leagues hosted scores of fans during the matches.  

Formula One season was set to begin. However, the virus broke out in Wuhan. 

Coronavirus brought the whole world to a stand still. Lockdowns were imposed across countries to prevent spread of the disease. Many sporting events were halted midway due to the lockdown. 

In March, most of the sporting leagues came to halt. European football leagues incurred heavy losses due to lockdown. 

During the lockdown, several athletes from different sports took to social media to show their lockdown routines. While spent time with their families, others trained hard to stay in form. 

Wimbledon 

Tokyo Olympics, scheduled to be held in March 2020, was postponed to 2021 due to outbreak of virus in Japan. The government and organisers suffered huge losses due to it.

UEFA decided to postpone Euro League to 2021. 

T20 World Cup 2021

Formula One season were off to a bad start. Many Grand Prix races were cancelled due to coronavirus pandemic. However, the season bounced back months later and revised their schedule with remaining races to avoid forfeiting the season.  

After months of lockdown, sporting world decided to conduct events. However, the governing bodies had to plan adequate measures amid pandemic to avoid spread.  

It was immediately decided that fans will not be present in the stadiums during the events. Football leagues, Indian Premier League, Formula One Grand Prix, and Tennis Grand Slams were held behind closed doors to avoid spread of coronavirus. 

All the sports had to change their schedule in order to avoid forfeiting its season. Football leagues had to conclude the 2019/20, due to which the revised schedule was cramped up. Tennis season witnessed some protests as new dates of French Open were to close to US Open. Due to this schedule, many steps were taken in order to avoid injuries like 5 substitution in football.  

Revised schedule was successful as most the leagues in various sports managed to complete seasons. However, few were cancelled due to outbreak of virus in that region. UEFA Champions League, US Open, French Open, Formula One, etc. had a season despite virus. 

Events like French Open and the on-going India's Tour in Australia has witnessed the return of fans. However, the capacity is limited to 50 per cent as of now. The percentage will improve with better conditions and in time.