The Latest: Badminton aiming to restart in mid-August
The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:
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Badminton is aiming to begin its revamped schedule in mid-August at the Hyderabad Open in India.
The world tour would resume at the Taipei Open from Sept. 1-6 in an updated calendar released by the Badminton World Federation.
The Thomas & Uber Cup Finals in Denmark are confirmed on the new dates of Oct. 3-11 and the World Tour Finals have been pushed back a week to Dec. 16-20.
The season-ending Finals in Guangzhou is one of five tournaments in China at the end of the year. That is not including the Hong Kong Open in November.
The Asia championships scheduled for April in Wuhan have been canceled and the European championships remain without a new date after being suspended since April.
The BWF says it is still working on how to unfreeze the rankings and make necessary changes to Olympic qualifying.
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Washington Wizards point guard John Wall is starting the “202 Assist” program to help with paying rent for people in the nation’s capital affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The John Wall Family Foundation set a goal of raising $300,000 over the next month.
The program is named for Washington’s area code and will work with the city to find those in need and disperse funds.
Wall is a five-time NBA All-Star who was drafted No. 1 overall by the Wizards in the 2010 draft. He sat out all of the 2019-20 season after tearing his left Achilles tendon.
His foundation donated 2,300 masks and hundreds of meals to front-line workers in Washington and in his home state of North Carolina in April.
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Novak Djokovic is planning to set up a series of tennis tournaments in the Balkan region while the sport is suspended amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The top-ranked player’s media team says the Adria Tour will start in Belgrade on June 13 and end on July 5 with Djokovic’s exhibition match against Bosnian player Damir Dzumhur in Sarajevo. The other events are scheduled for the Croatian Adriatic resort of Zadar, Montenegro and Banja Luka in northern Bosnia.
Djokovic will play in all of the round robin tournaments. The other participants are to include Dominic Thiem and Grigor Dimitrov.
Organizers left open the possibility that the “humanitarian” tour could be played in front of spectators.
No professional tennis tournaments have been played since March. The French Open has been postponed and Wimbledon has been canceled because of the coronavirus.
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