An uncertain timeline
A day after announcing the postponement of the 2020 Summer Olympics, the head of the International Olympic Committee suggested the competition might be rescheduled at some point before the summer of 2021.
Speaking with hundreds of reporters in a teleconference on Wednesday, IOC President Thomas Bach said a newly formed task force will face the “huge jigsaw puzzle” of setting a new date amid the continuing coronavirus outbreak.
“That means this task force can consider the broader picture,” he said. “This is not just restricted to the summer months. All the options are on the table.”
Working in a group dubbed “Here We Go,” representatives from the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 organizing committee will hold their first meeting on Thursday. They will focus on creating an open space in an already crowded 2021 sports calendar.
“I guess that these postponed Olympic Games will need sacrifices, will need compromises by all the stakeholders,” he said. “We have to find the best possible solution under the circumstances we are living in.”
NHL postpones draft, combine
In light of the season postponement due to the coronavirus outbreak, the NHL announced on Wednesday it has postponed the league’s scouting combine, awards, and the draft. All were scheduled for June.
The draft was originally slated for June 26-27 at
Bell Centre in Montreal, but the league’s statement reads “The location, timing and format of the 2020 NHL Draft (and Draft Lottery) will be announced when details are finalized.”
The awards were scheduled for June 18 in Las Vegas, and the league said “With respect to the Bridgestone NHL Awards, the League looks forward to returning to Las Vegas in the future. Las Vegas has been the home of the Bridgestone NHL Awards since 2009.”
The annual scouting combine was scheduled to take place on June 1-6 in Buffalo.
Towns details mother’s plight
Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns says his mother is hospitalized and in a medically-induced coma after contracting the coronavirus.
Towns talked about the condition of his mother, Jacqueline Cruz, Wednesday on his Instagram page. He urged his followers to take COVID-19 seriously and practice social distancing.
Towns said both his parents went to the hospital recently and were tested for the disease. While his father was released and told to quarantine at home, his mother’s condition deteriorated to the point where she was put on a ventilator and placed in a coma.
“She just wasn’t getting better,” Towns said. “Her fever wasn’t cutting from 103. It’d maybe go down to 101.9 with the meds then immediately spike back up during the night. She was very uncomfortable. Her lungs were getting worse, cough was getting worse. She was deteriorating in front of our eyes.”