The Covid-19 outbreak has spread to more than 80 countries in the world, including Indonesia, and it has the potential to affect many public events, including sports events.
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The novel coronavirus could spread during tournaments and concerts where thousands and even tens of thousands of people gather. In addition to the athletes, sports events also involve referees, organizing committees and spectators. Unfortunately, as the Covid-19 virus continues to spread around the world, two major events are scheduled for this year: the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the UEFA European Football Championship (UEFA Euro 2020). Other sporting events include Indonesia’s 2020 National Games (PON), not to mention badminton’s Thomas Cup and the Uber Cup.
The UEFA Euro 2020 opening ceremony is scheduled for 12 June at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy, which has a seating capacity for 72,698 spectators. This means that at least 80,000 people will gather as organizers, participants or spectators for the opening ceremony at the Olimpico. Unfortunately, Italy has the highest number of deaths from Covid-19, with 80 people succumbing to the disease. Will Rome suspend the UEFA Euro 2020, whereas the ongoing Italian League is being played without spectators?
The novel coronavirus could spread during tournaments and concerts where thousands and even tens of thousands of people gather.
The venue for the opening ceremony of PON 2020 is the Papua Bangkit Stadium, which has the capacity to seat more than 40,000 spectators. Hundreds of thousands of athletes, officials and spectators will gather for events involving more than 35 sports at four locations: Jayapura city, Jayapura regency, Mimika regency, and Merauke regency.
It is feared that the coronavirus can spread rapidly among the dense crowds at the stadium and sports games. Not surprisingly, the 2020 Tokyo Marathon, one of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, has been restricted to only the world\'s elite athletes.
The Youth and Sports Ministry urgently needs to prepare two specific guidelines for major sports and related institutions, including PB PON that organizes the quadrennial national sports event.
One is a guideline for holding national sports events, including PON. Standards for preventing the spread of Covid-19 must be set immediately as a reference for holding such events. Especially regarding PON 2020, which will be held from 20 Oct. to 2 Nov., there is ample time to prepare a guideline for all PON organizers to implement.
The second is a guideline for athletes and coaches on participating in friendly games, training and international championships, especially those held in countries with localized outbreaks. As this newspaper reported on Thursday (5/3/2020), the Indonesian Archery Association was originally scheduled to take part in the 2020 World Archery Championships in May in Shanghai, China, while athlete training was to be held in South Korea. Both events have been canceled.
According to the latest information, the Youth and Sports Ministry is coordinating with the Health Ministry to obtain its feedback on the guidelines. It can only be hoped that drafting the guidelines will not take too long, because athlete coaching and training sessions are held regularly throughout the year.
These guidelines will offer clarity and determine Indonesia\'s sporting achievements in the future, despite the spread of Covid-19.