The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:
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NASCAR fans won’t be allowed to attend when the Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway on Wednesday night, but the sport’s impact will surely be felt by Henry County residents the next day.
The Joey Logano Foundation, the NASCAR Foundation and Elevation Outreach are partnering to bring a Convoy of Hope to Martinsville with the goal of providing 40,000 pounds of food and supplies to approximately 1,000 families during a drive-thru distribution at NASCAR’s oldest track.
The effort is similar to one conducted at Darlington Raceway in May.
“After seeing how impactful Darlington went, we quickly moved forward and scheduled our next event with Convoy of Hope in Martinsville,” Logano, chairman of his foundation, said in a release.
The COVID-19 pandemic forced NASCAR to pause its season in March. The race at Martinsville will be the seventh since the series went back to racing without fans last month.
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The North Carolina High School Athletic Association will lift its dead period next week to allow for in-person workouts for prep athletes.
The organization announced Monday that it would allow limited workouts beginning June 15, though education agencies across the Southern U.S. state must also permit it at a local level.
Restrictions for the first phase of return include having workouts of no longer than 90 minutes, with no more than 25 people at outdoor venues and no more than 10 in gymnasiums. They also require daily temperature checks and social distancing, along with instructing schools to keep the same groupings of athletes working together each time.
Locker rooms and weight rooms remain closed for now. The restrictions include no shared use of athletic equipment. Guidelines for future phases will be developed and shared at a later date.
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The Italian soccer federation has approved plans for a playoff or the use of an algorithm with no champion declared if the season is stopped again.
Serie A has been suspended since March 9 because of the coronavirus outbreak. It is scheduled to resume on June 20.
The plans were approved by an 18-3 vote at an FIGC council meeting. Italian soccer clubs had asked for no champion or relegations unless mathematically certain.
Playoffs are the preferred idea but an algorithm will be used to determine the final standings if matches cannot be held because of time restrictions or the worsening of the pandemic. But there will not be a champion if the algorithm is used.
The top two men’s divisions are the only ones set to resume their regular seasons. The women’s Serie A will not restart.
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English soccer club Brighton is offering fans the chance to have cardboard cutouts of themselves in the stadium when the Premier League resumes.
Games in the league will be closed to spectators for the remainder of the season because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Five of Brighton’s nine remaining games are at home. The first is on June 20 against Arsenal.
Fans need to send in a photo wearing a Brighton jersey and pay $25.
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Italy’s female soccer players are against the possibility of a playoff format to finish their season.
A decision on whether and how the Serie A women’s league will resume is expected to be made during an Italian soccer federation meeting.
One of the proposals is to have playoffs. That would involve half of the 12 Serie A teams.
A statement by the Serie A women’s players says they are against it because “it doesn’t guarantee true fairness.”
They say "we all go out on the field or no one does.”
Juventus, AC Milan and Sassuolo are the only three clubs which have managed to resume training. Many of the clubs also have players who are still abroad.
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