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Sports News of Tuesday, 17 March 2020

Source: www.mynigeria.com

French Open tournament postponed over coronavirus

Rafael Nadal after winning his 12th French Open title in 2019 | Getty Images Rafael Nadal after winning his 12th French Open title in 2019 | Getty Images

Organisers of the French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament have announced the postponement of the event because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The tournament which was originally scheduled to be played from May 24-June 7 will now be played from September 20-October 4.

An official statement was released by the French Tennis Federation on Tuesday stating that:

"In order to guarantee the health and safety of all those involved in the preparation of the tournament, the French Tennis Federation decided to organise the 2020 edition of Roland-Garros from 20 September to 4 October 2020," the French tennis federation said in a statement.

"While no one today can predict what the health situation will be like on May 18 (when qualifications were due to start), the lockdown measures in force make it impossible to prepare for it and therefore to organise it on the dates initially planned."

France has confirmed a total of 6,633 coronavirus cases with about 148 deaths as of March 17.

The global statistics as of today stands at 190,938 confirmed cases and more than 7,500 deaths, according to Worldometer.