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“Finals Rhein-Ruhr 2020” and athletics DM postponed
15:14: The “Finals Rhein-Ruhr 2020” in North Rhine-Westphalia are postponed to an indefinite time because of the coronavirus pandemic. The organizers announced. The multi-sport event, which had a successful premiere in Berlin in August 2019, was to be held on the first weekend in June (June 6/7) in the five cities of Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Oberhausen, Aachen and Neuss.
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“The participating sports associations, the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia and the broadcasting TV channels ARD and ZDF have mutually agreed on a postponement of the overall event” The Finals “,” said the announcement 70 days before the planned start. A possible new date for the “Finals 2020” will be examined taking into account the national and international sports calendar.
In total, competitions were planned in 19 sports with around 3700 athletes. 16 sports of which were to be held as German championships. It said: “The possible implementation of individual German championships later in 2020 is at the discretion of the individual sports associations.”
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In some disciplines, the competitions should also count as Olympic qualifications, which were no longer urgent due to the relocation of the Tokyo Games to 2021. ARD and ZDF wanted to broadcast the competitions live for 20 hours. According to NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet, the state contributed four million euros to the budget for hosting the finals.
For the athletics DM, association president Jürgen Kessing said: “The title fights were set for the beginning of June to give our athletes a qualification opportunity for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Now that the games have been moved to 2021, we will make the title fights for everyone Postpone athletes and clubs to a new date. ” No new date has yet been found.
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FC Barcelona salary cuts
1:17 p.m .: After the failure of negotiations about a salary waiver with its stars, FC Barcelona cut the working hours and thus the wages of the team and many employees. The Spanish football champion justified the interference in the contracts with the economic consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
According to Spanish law, companies can use such means in the event of force majeure. Previously, the club had not reached agreement with the superstar Lionel Messi professionals about a voluntary cut in salaries, as reported by the Spanish media.
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It is expected that other Spanish first division clubs will follow the example of FC Barcelona.
The club leaders also announced that the club’s facilities had been made available to the health authorities of the Catalonia region.
More athletics meetings postponed
13:09: Because of the corona crisis, three more athletics meetings of the Diamond League were postponed. The events in Stockholm (May 24), Naples / Rome (May 28) and Rabat / Morocco (May 31) cannot take place as planned. That announced the series.
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The first three meetings, one in Qatar and two in China, have been canceled in recent weeks. “An alternative calendar for the 2020 season will be announced in due course,” said the Diamond League.
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