Oceania under-20 tournament joins list of cancelled events

ByReuters

Published 22/05/2020 at 00:15 GMT

WELLINGTON, May 22 (Reuters) - The novel coronavirus outbreak has claimed another sporting victim, with organisers cancelling the under-20 Oceania rugby union championship that was due to start next week in Australia.

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The tournament, involving teams from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and Japan, was due to be held at Bond University in Queensland from May 27-June 6, Oceania Rugby said in a statement.

Travel and quarantine restrictions and a lack of adequate player preparation time led to the cancellation, and the tournament joins a long list of sporting leagues and events globally that have been affected by the outbreak.

World Rugby earlier cancelled the under-20 World Cup that was due to be held in Italy from June 28 and last week postponed all senior international matches that had been scheduled for the July test window.

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