Emre Aşıkçı
29 January 2020•Update: 29 January 2020
SAKARYA, Turkey
Turkey's Wushu Kung Fu Federation postponed their visit to China over the fear of the deadly novel coronavirus outbreak, which hit the Asian country recently.
"The national [Wushu Kung Fu] athletes will not travel to China until we have positive news about the coronavirus outbreak," deputy chairman of the federation, Abdurrahman Akyuz told Anadolu Agency on Wednesday.
Akyuz said that Turkish athletes went to China for their studies but they have been on leave in Turkey for three months.
He stated that China is a big country but these deadly viruses pose a threat against people's lives and adding that he hopes this virus won't cause bigger troubles as Turkish athletes will have courses in China.
Akyuz also said that they were warned about their travels to China as some of his friends in the Asian country recommended.
Coronavirus hits sports in China
China has been suffering from the pandemic virus, a deadly one which killed at least 132 persons.
The sports events in this country also faced troubles in recent days as the Chinese Supercup in football was postponed due to the Coronavirus outbreak last weekend.
The Chinese football season opener had been scheduled to take place between Guangzhou Evergrande and Shanghai Shenhua on Feb. 5 in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province, eastern China, according to state broadcaster China Global Television Network (CGTN).
"In conformity with the requirements to prevent and contain the spread of the novel coronavirus, and to avoid crowds gathering, the Chinese Football Association [CFA] has decided to postpone the 2020 CFA Supercup after cautious analysis and assessment," the Chinese football governing body said in a statement, cited by the broadcaster.
Besides, FIBA, the world basketball's governing body relocated the Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament from China's Foshan to the Serbian capital Belgrade.
"After having carefully evaluated the developments regarding the coronavirus outbreak and placing as a main priority the safety of the participating players and team delegation members," FIBA said on Monday.
The death toll in China from the novel coronavirus outbreak has climbed to 132, the National Health Commission said Wednesday.
Some 5,974 confirmed cases of pneumonia caused by the coronavirus, also known as 2019-nCoV, have been reported in China.
It was reported that a total of 9,239 people were suspected of being infected with the virus.
The virus, which originated in Wuhan, has spread across 30 provinces in the country.
Tens of cases have also been reported in Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Thailand, the U.S., Singapore, France, Germany, Malaysia, Australia, and Vietnam.
