Ómicron threatens the sports calendar: 2022 will have an uncertain start in several disciplines

Matches postponed in the Premier League, teams of the NBA Decimated, Australian Open preparation disturbed. Sport is not spared the exponential increase in COVID-19 cases linked to the variant Omicron, and feel the threat of a new total closing of doors, or even a halt in competitions.

In the English championship, their sacrosanct ‘Boxing Day’ (a day after Christmas) did not have its usual festive aspect, with three games postponed, including Liverpool-Leeds. Two games from the 20th date, scheduled for Tuesday through Thursday, have already been added to that list.

In total, the Premier League was forced to postpone a dozen games in the last three dates, while Great Britain faces a record number of infections.

Wales decided that all sporting events should be played behind closed doors. In Scotland the three-week winter break was brought forward: it started on Monday instead of January 3.

The other major European championships will resume between now and the first week of January, and could also be affected by the omicron variant.

In Germany, where the Bundesliga is due to resume on January 7, all sporting competitions, including football matches, will take place behind closed doors.

Australian Open awaits Djokovic

Another potential victim is tennis. The Australian Open is due to start on January 17 and three top players – Rafael Nadal, Andrey Rublev and Denis Shapovalov – announced they had tested positive, casting doubt on their presence at the first Grand Slam of the year.

“Now I have to recover and I will only go to Melbourne when this is all safe for everyone,” Rublev said Monday on Twitter.

The world No. 1, the Serbian Novak Djokovic, who refuses to rule on whether or not he is vaccinated against COVID-19, will announce in principle before the end of the year if he will be at the Australian Open. His environment has already advanced that he will not be at the ATP Cup (January 1-9) in Sydney, the first date of the year.

To be authorized to enter Australian territory, players and their technical teams must be vaccinated.

Alpine skiing is not being fought either: the American Mikaela Shiffrin, in charge of the Women’s World Cup, announced this Monday that she tested positive for COVID-19, and that is why she will miss the tests in Lienz (Austria) on Tuesday and the Wednesday.

“I’m fine but unfortunately I tested positive for COVID-19. I follow the protocol and I am in isolation, ”wrote the alpine ski star with 72 World Cup victories.

NBA and NHL with problems due to COVID-19

The cases of COVID-19 have multiplied for a few weeks in the women’s ski circuit, with the Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami, the New Zealand Alice Robinson or the Austrian Katharina Liensberger.

In the United States, the NBA is moving forward for the moment, but teams are decimated by cases of Coronavirus, with 27 of the 30 franchises rocked by the pandemic, according to figures released Sunday for the North American championship.

The Atlanta Hawks are deprived of eleven players, the Celtics of nine. Sole consolation: the NBA allows teams to sign players for short-term contracts who play in the reserve championship to cover losses.

And the United States and Canada ice hockey championships saw the resumption after the Christmas break scheduled for Monday postponed to Tuesday so that the NHL can analyze the results of the COVID-19 tests.

The 14 games scheduled for Monday were postponed, bringing the total number of games rescheduled in the NHL this season to 67 due to the Coronavirus.