TEHRAN – Sport has always been one of the strongest weapon to fight disease but newly discovered coronavirus is going to kill it.

So many sports events have been postponed or will take place behind closed doors due to the coronavirus concerns.

Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has postponed several Champions League’s matches and rescheduled the women’s Olympic qualifier between China and South Korea.

In Iran, sports leagues except football have been canceled. Iran Professional League (IPL) matches take place behind closed doors and the football-mad fans find it annoying.   

Coronavirus has dampened enthusiasm for the games and situation may be worse than we know.

So many countries have closed the schools, cinemas, competitions and museums and the future remains unclear.

Persian New Year, called Nowruz, is approaching but the Iranians are not happy since the coronavirus has killed 43 people so far and closed their festivals.

More than 50 countries have been affected, including Iran.

On Saturday, Head of Hong Kong Football Association Pui Kwan-kay said it was “highly unlikely” that Hong Kong’s 2022 World Cup Asian zone qualifier against Iran next month will go ahead because of the coronavirus outbreak.

The match slated for March 26 is a must-win game for Team Melli, however, the East Asian country is going to meet Iran in a neutral field.

Iraq leads the group on 11 points, followed by Bahrain (9), Iran (6) and Hong Kong (5) with Cambodia bottom on one point.

Sports, especially football is life for the most Iranian people but continuation of the situation would be chaotic in one word.

Around 83,000 coronavirus cases have been confirmed worldwide since the outbreak began in Wuhan, China.

Nearly 79,000 of the cases have been recorded in China, however the virus is now believed to be spreading faster outside the country.

Coronavirus has killed sports and hope for treating the novel coronavirus could be on the horizon since there is, so far, no cure or vaccine for the virus.

Reporting by Masoud Hossein