Chinese basketball to resume on June 20 after coronavirus

Above, the Mercedes Benz Arena in Shanghai which hosts Chinese Basketball Association games. (AFP file photo)

• China’s first major sports league to return to action after the coronavirus

SHANGHAI: The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) season will resume on June 20, the CBA said on Thursday, becoming the country’s first major sports league to return to action after the coronavirus.
The campaign was halted in February but will return after the number of infections dropped markedly in China, where the pandemic emerged at the end of last year.
The resumption of the CBA puts pressure on football — the other leading sport in China — to similarly get going again after a months-long indefinite postponement.
“With the approval of the sports and health department, CBA league will resume on June 20 and all preparations have entered a substantive stage,” the CBA said on the Twitter-like Weibo.
Defending champions Guangdong ranked first in the league after 30 matches, before the CBA announced in late January that the competition would be suspended from February 1.
Earlier this week, former NBA star Jeremy Lin, now with the Beijing Ducks, said players and fans wanted basketball back as soon as possible.
“We don’t care whether the games are played in empty arenas or under a championship-like competition system,” Lin said.
“We just want to play and let fans see the games on TV or the Internet.”