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Boxing NZ says nine Olympic hopefuls in limbo in Thailand after coronavirus outbreak

Boxing NZ chairman Keith Walker told 1 NEWS the situation is "stressful" and "costly".

Nine New Zealand boxers' hopes of competing at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics are in doubt after the qualification event in Wuhan, China was cancelled over the outbreak of a new coronavirus.

"We know very little at this stage," Boxing New Zealand chairman Keith Walker told 1 NEWS.

"We're hoping for more information in the next 24 hours."

Nine athletes, including double Commonwealth Games champion David Nyika, are currently in Thailand where they were preparing for the Asia-Oceania event that was scheduled in the city before the recent outbreak.

The team was set to leave Thailand for Wuhan next week, Walker said.

"We’re happy they’re not in that city but the flip side of the coin is that everything’s on hold," Walker said.

The team is mostly self-funded so the disruption has left their qualification chances up in the air.

"It’s a stressful, costly outcome," Walker said. "It’s leaving them hugely out of pocket and Boxing New Zealand can’t afford it."

The Olympic Channel says alternatives are being explored and that "the event will now be rescheduled".

But Walker says any delay to the Asia-Oceania event will cause problems, and the chances of New Zealand’s athletes qualifying for Tokyo through a later world event are slim.

"It’s hard enough to qualify in Asia. The big issue is they’re set to peak for that competition next month."

Wuhan, with a population of nine million people, is set to temporarily shut down public transport in an effort to contain the outbreak.

The World Health Organisation is set to decide on whether to declare an international public health emergency tomorrow, after delaying its decision today.

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