The 3x3 basketball Olympic qualifiers scheduled to be held in Bengaluru between March 18-22 has been postponed in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.
This is the first major tournament in India to be postponed due to the outbreak.
FIBA said on Wednesday that they are "working in close collaboration with the International Olympic Committee on the best solution possible in the circumstances, considering that this tournament needs to take place before the FIBA 3x3 Universality Olympic Qualifier Tournament scheduled to be played in Budapest, Hungary, from April 24 to 26, 2020".
Other 3x3 events have also been postponed by FIBA, with the Asia Cup in Changsha, China moved from May 13-17 to Sep. 9-13, and with the Under-17 Asia Cup in Cyberjaya, Malaysia also rescheduled from Jun. 4-7 to Oct. 8-11.
Further, the FIBA U16 Asian Championship in Beirut, Lebanon, from April 5-12 and the FIBA U16 Women's Asian Championship in Canberra, Australia, from April 5-10 have been cancelled. Basketball Africa League (BAL) has postponed its inaugural season, which was scheduled to start on March 13 in Dakar, Senegal.
The Indian government stopped issuing visas to Chinese nationals on February 5 and on Tuesday, suspended visas and e-visas with immediate effect for people travelling from Italy, Iran, South Korea and Japan, following a surge in the number of cases reported in these countries.
On Wednesday, the Indian government said that 28 cases of Coronavirus had been confirmed in the country and 27,000 people had been placed under community surveillance. The government has made it mandatory for international passengers to submit a self-declaration form on arrival, which collects personal data including travel history and possible contact with people there.
"FIBA communicated its decision to us and there was really no other option," Basketball Federation of India (BFI) secretary Chandermukhi Sharma told ESPN. "Since teams from affected countries were supposed to travel here and with the visa ban in place postponement was the only alternative. At our end, we had already booked hotels for the teams so obviously, its a loss. Right now we don't have much clarity on when it will be scheduled for next."
Responding to ESPN's query, FIBA said that there's "currently there's no update regarding the location of the rescheduled tournament".
Twenty teams each in men's and women's events were to participate in the event jointly organized by FIBA and the BFI in a year which will witness the Olympic debut of 3x3 basketball.
Both the men's and women's teams were broken into four pools each. India were placed in Pool D alongside Latvia, Croatia, Canada and The Netherlands in the men's section while the women find themselves bunched together with Italy, Chinese Taipei, Switzerland and Spain.
Six Olympic spots (three each from men's and women's) were to be up for grabs which would then have the top two teams from each pool qualifying for the knockout stages of the competition.
The outbreak has already seen the postponement of a number of sporting events, including the World Indoor Track and Field championships, the Chinese F1 Grand Prix, Moto GP races in Qatar and Thailand, as well as Six Nations rubgy matches and several Serie A games.
Japan's Olympic minister, Seiko Hashimoto, had also stated that there was a possibility of postponement of the Games itself.