While the World Cup in Doha was postponed until June and the Stuttgart World Cup has been canceled outright, it looked like we would still have the competition in Baku. The qualifications started on Thursday and continued today and the competition was well-attended despite some gymnasts withdrawing. However, today, Azerbaijan has declared a state of national emergency and banned all mass gatherings including sporting events. While there has not yet been an official press release from the local organizers or the FIG, the Canadian Gymnastics Federation has announced on Twitter that the finals at the Baku World Cup have been canceled.
COVID 19 Update: The finals of the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup in Baku taking place this weekend have now been cancelled.
— Gymnastics Canada (@gymcan1) March 13, 2020
This was the report we received from our team on the ground in Baku: pic.twitter.com/njshpOqO9t
— Gymnastics Canada (@gymcan1) March 13, 2020
The state of national emergency starts tonight at midnight and, at the moment, is slated to continue for a month. Baku is also the host of the MAG European Championships that are supposed to take place at the end of May. So far, there have not been any announcements on whether the European Championships will still take place.
Another big question mark is how the cancellation of the World Cup will affect the Olympic qualification since this was one of the 8 qualifying competitions in the series.
