In a tweet on Wednesday night, the Overwatch League has revealed that its February & March tournaments in China are set to be cancelled due to the threat of potential deadly coronavirus. According to the tweet, the league will still hold matches in China later this season but did not address the date or location of the cancelled matches.
The quickly growing outbreak of coronavirus in China is the Overwatch League’s most recent and major logistics obstacle in trying to deliver the next phase of its ambitious project in 19 municipalities worlds to reflect traditional sports, foundations and competitions. The rapid spread of the virus has spoiled the planned international debut of the League on Feb. 15, with more than 8,000 cases reported in China now.
The League wrote Wednesday evening that more information would be available on the cancelled games “We decided to cancel our February March games in China in order to protect the health and safety of the players, fans and staff.”
The Guangzhou Charge and Shanghai Dragons, two teams based in China, had recently announced on Twitter they would move briefly to South Korea. Specifically, the Guangzhou Charge indicated that it would transfer for the duration of pre-season training.
The Shanghai Dragons said early Wednesday that all players and coaches are ‘effective immediately,’ without a specific timeframe for their return to South Korea. The Chengdu Hunters will be present in China for the beginning of the season, according to a Twitter statement from the Team.
