Sevens events due to be held in April will now take place in October because of coronavirus outbreak
Hong Kong and Singapore Sevens Postponed
The Hong Kong and Singapore legs of the World Sevens Series have been postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak.
The 45th edition of the Hong Kong Sevens was due to take place on 3-5 April with the Singapore tournament being held a week later, but these will both now be staged in October because of health concerns relating to the outbreak.
The Singapore Sevens will take place on 10-11 October with the Hong Kong event, which will see the Women’s Series staged there alongside the men’s for the first time, completing the 2020 series on 16-18 October.
The anti-government protests in the region had already led to speculation that the sevens might not take place. Now fears over the coronavirus, which already has a death toll of more than 1,000 people, have led to the decision to postpone the event.
A World Rugby statement said: “The health and safety of our players, fans and everyone working on the event is always our highest priority.
“This prudent decision has been taken in order to help protect the global rugby community and the wider public and was taken based on the World Health Organisation and relevant public authority travel and health guidelines. The decision is fully supported by stakeholders, including unions and commercial partners.”
World Rugby are yet to confirm the schedule for the 2020-21 series, either men’s and women’s, other than to say that the Hong Kong and Singapore events will take place in April next year as usual. However, the postponement of this season’s Hong Kong event until October could create a problem in terms of the women’s schedule.
This season’s Women’s Series started with the Glendale event in the USA at the start of October, so if that schedule remains the same for 2020-21 it could be the case that they start the next series before completing this season’s.
A World Rugby spokeswoman said: “This is a unique, dynamic and complex situation. We are working through the scheduling for the 2021 series in partnership with our key stakeholders as is normal practice and more details on the 2021 schedule will be shared in due course.”
If you have purchased tickets for the Hong Kong and Singapore Sevens you will have your tickets honoured for the rescheduled events or if you can’t attend the new dates a full refund will be provided. Follow the links below for details.
Hong Kong: www.hksevens.com
Singapore ticket information: www.singapore7s.com.sg
The World Sevens Series is not the first sporting event to be affected by the coronavirus. The Chinese Grand Prix, due to take place in Shanghai in April, has been postponed and March’s World Athletics Indoor Championships in Nanjing has been cancelled.
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