Page 10 - The Josenian Premier Volume 5 Issue 1

International Sports Events Resume

After a Few Months of Lock-down

By: Dan Paolo B. Ballares

T he pandemic has made an undeniable impact in the everyday lives of the people and world-class athletes and
National Sports teams are especially affected. Since the start of the lockdown that began in the last half of March
2020, athletes all around the globe have been drained of all forms of sporting activities during the last few months
that they have been advised to stay at home as a result of lock-down. The most significant sporting event that was
cancelled this year due to the pandemic was the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after Japan’s prime minister, Shinzu Abe, concluded
that it is better to postpone the sporting event and will now take place on July 23 – August 8, 2021 which will be next year.

Basketball

In the National Basketball Association (NBA), they resumed the final 8 games of
the 2019-2020 regular season in July of 2020. 22 of the 30 teams were invited
to participate. They were sent to an isolation zone which was located inside the
Walt Disney World in Bay Lake Florida. The Isolation zone was created by the
NBA to protect its players from the COVID-19 pandemic, and with games being
held behind closed doors in ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. This place was
called the NBA Bubble. The teams stayed in Disney World Hotels inside the resort.
Volleyball

Fédération Internationale de Volleyball (FIVB) Volleyball Nation’s League,
an annual international volleyball tournament, has been called off because
of the pandemic. The biggest volleyball leagues in Europe; the Italian
League (SuperLega), Polish League (PlusLiga), and the Russian
League (RVSL) have resumed their tournaments back in August,
although only local tournaments have been held in these leagues,
any tournaments between these leagues and teams from leagues
outside the European Volleyball confederation will not take place.
Badminton

All Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour tournaments that were
supposed to take place from March 12, 2020 to September 2020, including
the Badminton Asia Championships which was supposed to be held in Manila,
Philippines, have been cancelled. The only Badminton World Federation world
tour tournament that has taken place was the Denmark Open 2020, but the
majority of the players that were qualified to compete have withdrawn, with
only a handful of players from Germany, Taiwan, Japan, and England competing.
Strict health protocols have been implemented even during the matches.

8 The Josenian Premier | First Semester S.Y. 2020-2021 photos via Google.