Milan 2026, Italian Sport Adjust to Virus

(ATR) Schools and stadia are shut across Italy through April 3. Sports bodies such as Italian NOC CONI are trying to keep this major disruption to the sport schedule from affecting athletes training for the Tokyo Olympics. .

Italian NOC media chief Danilo Di Tomasso tells Around the Rings that only elite level athletes will be allowed to continue their training while Italy is designated a Zona Rosso.

"In the same time we are supporting Italian athletes that need to compete to qualify for Olympic Games to find the best solution to allow them to compete in qualification for Tokyo," he says.

He also notes that the organizing committee for Milan-Cortina 2026 is adapting to "smart working" by members of the team who are house-bound in the epicenter of the Italian outbreak.

More than 630 deaths are blamed on corona in Italy with more than 10,000 cases so far in the nation of 60 million.

Di Tommaso says he’s been going to CONI headquarters in Rome on a daily basis. And Monday was a busy day he recounts. He said that CONI, which manages the spectrum of sports under the umbrella of the Olympics, was calling a halt to any sports competition in Italy, including football.

CONI President and IOC member Giovanni Malago led the meeting with the key sports federations at the Fioro Italico where the halt until April 3 was approved.

The exception are matches in the European Champions and Europa Leagues, both under control by UEFA, says Di Tomasso.

World Baseball Softball Confederation President Ricardo Fracarri was working in the Lausanne offices of the WBSC but returned to Italy to be with his family. Fraccari is not expected to attend next week’s Olympic qualifying tournament in Arizona. The virus outbreak forced Fraccari to call off the ribbon-cutting of the new WBSC headquarters in Lausanne.

Reported by Ed Hula.