India offers to host World Team Championship in the wake of Coronavirus outbreak in South Korea 

What’s the story?

Soon after Busan in South Korea confirmed cases of coronavirus in the city, the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) postponed the World Team Championship scheduled to be held there from March 22-29. In case Busan cannot host the event, the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) has volunteered to host it.

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The Korea Open, China Open, and Ho­ng Kong Open were cancelled due to virus outbreak and hence the World Team Championship was important for many players for Olympics qualification.

The heart of the matter

“Our president has written to the ITTF and we are expecting a response shortly. If we get the green light, we will approach the government to chalk out plans,” TTFI secretary MP Singh told Indian Express.

The Asian Wrestling Championships in New Delhi which concluded two days ago saw Chinese grapplers not getting vis­as from the Indian go­vernment. But Singh said that in case of Table Tennis Championship, there won’t be any issue: “The entire Chinese contingent is qu­a­rantined and training in Qatar. So I don’t think it will be an issue.”

What’s next?

While the cancellation and rescheduling of several tournaments will matter to a lot of sportspersons aiming at an Olympic berth, what should matter the most right now is that the virus is spreading all over the world and causing hundreds of deaths.