Ashgabat Asian Futsal Championship was postponed because of Coronavirus, but was not canceled
The Asian Futsal Championship, which should be held from February 26 to March 8 in the Olympic Park of the Turkmen capital, has been postponed. Such is the decision of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC).
The Confederation portal reports that the decision was made after consultations with all interested parties. “This step has been taken because of worries about the current situation with the coronavirus and in order to ensure safety and well-being of all participating groups and parties interested. The AFC will continue to monitor an impact of the virus, and when the situation stabilizes, a new competition date will be announced,” emphasizes the organization’s website.
At first glance, the decision is somewhat upsetting for Turkmen and foreign fans, and on the other hand, in the circumstances concerned, is the only adequate one. After all, outside of continental China, cases of infection have already been recorded in more than 20 countries, a number of the infected persons has exceeded 20 thousand.
No matter how long-awaited the competitions were, no matter how intensively they were prepared for, the life and health of people – athletes, fans, sports journalists, volunteers and many others, are more important than anything else. And other countries have followed this way – postponing the competition until the danger passes – as well.
Kazakhstan canceled the qualifying matches of the Tennis Federation Cup, which were proposed to be moved from the Chinese city of Dongguan to Nur-Sultan, and the World Athletics announced that the Winter Athletics World Cup, which had to be held in Nanjing, China, on March 13-15, 2020, was postponed to 2021. And there are many such transfers for the safety of people.
In this case, it is necessary to benefit from the situation, since it happened, and nothing can be changed radically. We should presume that the Asian Futsal Championship’s hosts have received additional time to prepare none the worse for the reception of athletes and fans. Well, the teams also got an additional opportunity to improve their skills and readiness for sports battles on the play fields of the Ashgabat Olympic Park.
