The Open Championship
On April 25th, the R&A announced the 2020 edition of the golf major has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus. The tournament will be not played for the first time since World War Two.
As the R&A want the 150th edition to take place at St Andrews in Scotland, the 149th edition of the competition will still be held at Royal St George’s in Kent next year. The Old Course will host the 150th Open as planned.
Irishman Shane Lowry is the reigning champion, winning last year with a total of 269. However, this cancellation does mean Lowry will keep the Claret Jug for longer than any of his ten predecessors, which included Phil Mickleson and Rory McIlroy, as none were able to defend the trophy the year after winning.
Wimbledon 2020
As with The Open, the Grand Slam will not be played for the first time since World War Two. Tennis’s most prestigious tournament will not have a winner in 2020, meaning Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep will be the Gentlemen and Ladies champions, respectively, for at least another year.
Wimbledon are one of the few events with insurance that includes an infectious diseases clause. The cancellation means they may be able to put in a claim with their insurers which totals over £100 million.
Even if the All England Club is protected, losing such an important institution is still a huge blow to English sport.
2019/2020 Football Season
This year’s English football season was originally suspended to the start of May – but will now only resume, as the Premier League has said, “when it is safe and appropriate to do so”.
With so many promotions, relegations and trophies left up in the air all the way down the football leagues, the biggest question remains – will the season be resumed, or cancelled? But with Liverpool on the verge of their first title in the Premier League era, and clubs like Leeds United set to return to the top flight, many want the season to be finished.
Lincoln City still have nine games left to play, but it is acknowledged that clubs like it in the lower divisions may struggle to survive the longer football is not being played.
Euro 2020
One of international football’s biggest tournaments, has been postponed until 2021. With England’s success in the 2018 World Cup, hopes were high this year – even with injuries to key players, including Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford, meaning they were in doubt for the summer.
The European Championships are sixty years old this year, so in celebration UEFA have twelve different countries hosting the games. So as knockout games are set to be held at Wembley for the first time since 1996, the postponement is another huge loss for English sport.
The video below shows one of the more famous matches from that summer in 1996, when football came home.
Tokyo 2020
The biggest organised sporting event in the world has been hit by Coronavirus and postponed to 2021. Perhaps the fact that the Olympic Games are only held every four years has hardened impact of its delay. Iconic events such as the 100m final won’t be seen in Tokyo this summer, and new sports such as skateboarding will have to wait another year for their debut.
Athletes had complained about the uncertainty around the games, with their training schedules disrupted by the closures of gyms and other practice locations. Announcing the postponement gave clarity to the eleven thousand athletes that are competing for the three hundred and thirty nine Olympic medals.
The loss has devastated every sports fan, and everyone who has enjoyed watching Great Britain compete in these games – especially in sports such as cycling, where it has excelled in recent years.
