SAKHIR, Bahrain (AP):

Formula One’s Bahrain Grand Prix has been closed to spectators due to the global virus outbreak, but won’t be postponed like the Chinese round of the championship.

The Bahraini organisers’ decision comes as the wider sporting world battles turmoil caused by the new coronavirus. Football, golf, skiing, marathons and Olympic-qualifying tournaments have all been disrupted.

Japan’s Spring Grand Sumo Tournament started yesterday without spectators, and with wrestlers arriving in face masks. One of Italian football’s biggest games – the potential title decider between Juventus and Inter Milan – was set to be played in an empty stadium.

Bahraini organisers said having crowds at the March 22 race would have undermined “aggressive social-distancing measures” used to prevent the spread of the virus, which causes the COVID-19 disease. Discouraging people from gathering in large crowds can prevent the virus from spreading.

“Given the continued spread of COVID-19 globally, convening a major sporting event, which is open to the public and allows thousands of international travellers and local fans to interact in close proximity, would not be the right thing to do at the present time,” organisers said in a statement.

The F1 season is set to begin with the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne on March 15. China was scheduled to hold the fourth race of the season on April 19, but that was postponed due to the virus outbreak, and no new date has been set.

Serie A games resumed yesterday in empty stadiums amid strict anti-virus measures in Italy, while a French league game between Strasbourg and Paris Saint-Germain was postponed from its scheduled date Saturday.

The Alpine skiing World Cup Finals, Italian cycling races, and the women’s ice hockey world championships have all been cancelled.

In Greece, all sports events will take place without spectators for two weeks, the country’s health ministry announced.

British sporting events could soon also be held without spectators, with a meeting between sports bodies, broadcasters and the government set to take place today.

When events do go ahead, fans and athletes are taking new precautions. Football players in the English Premier League have scrapped their traditional pre-game handshakes, while leading cricket players have used fist-bump greetings and been issued with hand sanitizer. Face masks are an increasingly common sight in crowds around the world.