The ASEAN Basketball League has postponed its upcoming games in Taiwan due to the government’s ban on the entry of certain travelers as part of its prevention efforts against the 2019 novel coronavirus.
Six games that were scheduled for Taiwan this month and early next month have been postponed to indefinite dates, the league said on its Web site.
The two Taiwanese teams in the league that were slated to play home games over the next month are the Formosa Dreamers and Taipei Fubon Braves, who are based in Changhua City and Taipei respectively.
According to the league schedule, the Formosa Dreamers were scheduled to play back-to-back games against the Hong Kong Eastern tomorrow and on Sunday, as well as the Macau Wolf Warriors on Feb. 22 and 23 at the Changhua County Stadium.
The Taipei Fubon Braves were scheduled to face off against the Macau Wolf Warriors on Feb. 29 and March 1 at the Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.
In addition to the six games in Taiwan, another nine have been postponed by the league, which cited travel restrictions enforced by certain countries due to the epidemic in China and its spread to other nations.
Taiwan is among the nations that have implemented such restrictions, as it has imposed a ban on all Chinese nationals and tightened its entry requirements for residents of Hong Kong and Macau, as well as foreign nationals who have visited any of those areas in the 14 days prior to their arrival in Taiwan.
The travel restrictions pose a problem for the league, which allows each team to employ three world imports that are usually the star players in the league.
“The league is evaluating the situation on a day-to-day basis, as it values the utmost safety of its teams, players, personnel and most especially its fans,” the league said.
A revised schedule would be released once the disease situation has improved and the travel restrictions are lifted, the league added.
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