The postponement of the Tokyo Olympics, just for the fourth time in its long history, this time by the coronavirus, tops the list of major sports news of a cruel year that is now coming to an end.
The postponement of the Olympic event, which is estimated to cause losses of about 1,900 million dollars, will be, if the virus does not spread beyond what was expected, until July 23 next year. it comes.
The pandemic disrupted the sport on the planet, suspending or modifying the calendar and the very nature of major tennis events, NBA, Major Leagues, Formula and the football championships of England, Spain, Italy, France and Germany, for only to name a few.
Most survived the Covid-19, but they had to be made with empty stages, sometimes with cardboard faces to make up for something, the absence of the public, which is, after all, the reason for being of these shows.
The NBA, one of the best-managed leagues, after four and a half months paralyzed, engineered it and opened a bubble at Disney World that made its resumption possible.
The league had a happy ending with Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James and Anthony Davis defeating in four of six games the Pat Hiley Miami Heat, the architect of many of the 17 titles won by the California franchise.
Incidentally, the Lakers tied with the Boston Celtics, their great rival, on the edge of the teams that have won the most sceptres.
Other epic draws that took place this year on the sports planet were those of Rafael Nadal with Roger Federer, both with 20 Grand Slams won, which looked as remote as the seven trophies won by Michael Schumacher in Formula One.
English driver Lewis Hamilton chased “Schumi” last November when he took the top spot in the Turkish Grand Prix, the fourteenth test of the 17 that make up the season.
Not content with that, Hamilton not only equaled the 91 victories totaled by the great German steering wheel, but later, at the Portuguese Grand Prix, dethroned him as the historic leader in his brand new Mercedes, a record that seemed unattainable.
Also relevant in the world of tennis was the surprising disqualification of Novak Djokovic from the US Open, after giving an unintentional ball to the line judge during the round of 16 match he starred against. the Spanish Pablo Carreño.
“I didn’t see the moment it happened,” the world number one explained.
“I was looking at my coach, celebrating the ‘break and then I saw the line judge on the ground. I was left in shock.”
Soto, a leader
Transcendent for the Dominican Republic was the batting scepter won in the National League by Juan Soto of the Washington Nationals, who averaged 351 in a 60-game season cut due to the coronavirus.
Gardener Banilejo became the youngest player to win it since Brooklyn Dodgers Pete Reiser, 22, won it in 1941 with an average of 343.
The Dodgers, but from Los Angeles, lifted the World Series trophy for the first time since 1988 by beating Tampa Bay in the seventh game of the same.
Local plan
The stoppage in the sport came at a time when the country was preparing to have what is projected as one of its best participations in the Olympics.
With five individual places and one overall, the country was insured, when there were still qualifying qualifiers for a dozen sports in which there were high hopes of adding more athletes.
“The Queens of the Caribbean” got the ticket to the Olympics, the third in its history, by defeating its archivist of Puerto Rico 3-0 in the final of the Qualifying Tournament held at home in the Palace of Sports Professor Virgili Naughty Soto.
At the time of postponing the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, the Dominican Republic had two athletes in equestrian sports (Héctor Florentino and Ivonne Losos de Muñiz), three in taekwondo (Bernardo Peu, Moisès Hernández and Katherine Rodríguez) and l women’s volleyball team or “Queens of the Caribbean”.
Swimmers Josuè Hernández and Cristall Lara have B marks.
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champions
On January 28, the Romanians were crowned champions, third in their history and first since 2011. They then triumphed in the Caribbean Series, ending a seven-year streak that the country had without a win.
disorders
By the virus the Professional League and the matches of District, Santiago, the Fertile valley, San Pedro de Macorís and the Roman were suspended.
survives
Thanks to the efforts of the Government and Lidom, the autumn-winter baseball tournament was saved, although it had to be held behind closed doors.