SKIING

Fan ban for Slovenian World Cup finale

Spectators will be barred from this weekend's finale of the men's Alpine skiing World Cup in Slovenia due to the coronavirus outbreak.

"The government's decision to hold sports competitions without an audience applies," the organizers of the races in Kranjska Gora announced on Monday.

"Due to the health situation in Europe and the last two weeks in Slovenia, the National Security Council met today and decided the following measure－any sporting event with more than 500 participants will be staged without an audience."

The resort is just 7 kilometers from Italy, where quarantine measures have been enforced nationwide.

Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde holds a 54-point lead over France's Alexis Pinturault, and is 161 ahead of another Norwegian, Henrik Kristoffersen. But while Kilde is a specialist in speed events, his two pursuers are both strongest in the slaloms. The weekend races are a giant slalom and a slalom, with victory in each race worth 100 points.

BOXING

Four Chinese fighters book Tokyo tickets

Four Chinese sealed their places at the Tokyo Olympics as they moved into the semifinals of the Asia/Oceania Olympic qualifying tournament in Amman on Sunday.

Li Qian, the top seed in the women's 75kg division, booked her spot with a 5-0 win over Mongolia's Myagmarjargal Munkhbat in the Jordanian capital.

"I'm really happy that I was the first to box today because I felt fresh," said Li, who won bronze at the 2016 Rio Games.

"I'm so happy to qualify for the Olympics and now I'm going to focus on doing my best the rest of the tournament to get a better seeding in Tokyo."

The other Chinese qualifiers were Gu Hong (women's 69kg division), Tanglatihan Erbieke (men's 75kg) and Chen Daxiang (men's 81kg).

RUGBY

England's Marler faces groin-grab suspension

England prop Joe Marler has been cited for allegedly grabbing the genitalia of Wales captain Alun Wyn Jones in their Six Nations match at Twickenham last weekend.

Marler was cited with teammates Courtney Lawes and Manu Tuilagi on Monday, two days after their 33-30 win.

Marler's action was caught on TV, and Jones was frustrated that the incident wasn't investigated by match officials at the time.

"It's very frustrating that we talk a lot about TMOs (television match officials) and footage reviews, yet there doesn't seem to be a lot of it happening," Jones said.

The minimum suspension for grabbing, twisting or squeezing genitals is 12 weeks.

Lawes was cited for a dangerous tackle on Jones. Tuilagi was automatically cited after being red-carded for a dangerous tackle on George North. The hearings are on Thursday in Dublin.

CYCLING

Giro, Tour cancellations 'would be disaster'

Cancelling the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France would be a disaster for cycling, says UCI president David Lappartient, whose sport has already been badly hit by the coronavirus crisis.

Several races, including the Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo, have been called off as Italy deals with rapidly escalating numbers of infections and deaths.

The Giro d'Italia, the second-biggest race behind Le Tour, is due to start on May 9 in Budapest, ending in Milan on May 31. Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Monday all sports events in the country were suspended.

Asked by Reuters about the prospect of the Giro and Tour de France falling victim to the coronavirus crisis, Lappartient said: "That would be a disaster for our sport of course if we can't have the Giro D'Italia or the Tour de France."

Xinhua - Agencies