Australian Table Tennis Championships, Nissan State Age Championships postponed after new Covid-19 restrictions

A snap three-day lockdown across southeast Queensland has thrown major events on the Coast into disarray. Here’s what we know so far.

UPDATE: A snap three-day lockdown across southeast Queensland has thrown major events on the Coast into disarray.

Southeast Queensland, Townsville, Palm Island and Magnetic Island will go into lockdown from 6pm on Tuesday until 6pm Friday.

As a result a number of national, state and popular events on the Coast throughout the week will be impacted.

Here’s what we know so far:

Australian Table Tennis Championships (Friday, July 2 - July 11 at Caloundra Indoor Stadium)

Table Tennis Australia has confirmed in a statement the postponement of the national event.

“Clearly this is not a decision that we wanted to make as we know that people want to participate in the event and we wanted the event to proceed wherever possible, however it is the only viable option left available,” the statement said.

“It is too early to determine what the proposed new dates will be and whether a change of venue will be required. Table Tennis Australia will likely seek participant feedback before making any decisions.”

Monto's Tarah Staines turned out for Biloela's U15 netball team at the 2019 Nissan State Age Championships.

Netball Queensland’s Nissan State Age Championships (July 3-6 at Sunshine Coast Netball Association)

Netball Queensland confirmed late on Tuesday the postponement of the state championships at Maroochydore.

The competition was scheduled to begin on Saturday at Fisherman’s Rd.

“As the largest participation event in Netball Queensland’s calendar, we have been planning and preparing for this event for a very long time,” a statement said.

“This outbreak and the decision to postpone the event will affect more than 20,000 participants, supporters, staff, volunteers, vendors, commercial partners, and media who attend our State Age event.

“However, the health and wellbeing of the community must come first.

“There is significant risk hosting an event of this size when we are heading into a lockdown due to cases in the community and more practically, the snap lockdown means we are not able to prepare and set-up for the event.”

A rescheduled date will be revealed in coming weeks.

Caloundra Cup (Saturday, July 3)

Sunshine Coast Turf Club chief executive officer John Miller said the cup would go ahead on Saturday as planned “on the basis the lockdown ends at 6pm on Friday”.

He said crowds would still be expected to follow Monday’s restrictions regarding face masks and social distancing.

“That’s all we can do at this stage is hope that it (lockdown) ends on Friday night,” he said.

He expected a few cancellations from hospitality clients who were travelling to the event but from a local point of view hoped people would still attend.

However, Sunshine Coast Turf Club’s Cup lead-in events including LPE Give Me 5 For Kids Ladies Lunch (Thursday) and TAB Calcutta Lunch (Friday) have been caught up in the lockdown.

Miller said the Ladies Lunch would be postponed while the Friday’s Calcutta Lunch was cancelled.

International Cricket Academy League tournament (Maroochydore July 3-12)

Organisers had already made the tough call on Monday to postpone the event until September.

Paul Kelly’s On The Road Again tour has been rescheduled for Monday, July 5. Photo: Tim Pascoe

Events Centre Caloundra (Paul Kelly show and The Ten Tenors)

Paul Kelly’s On The Road Again tour was due to hit the stage on Thursday night and the Ten Tenors Celebrating 25 Years show was set for Friday.

Events Centre Caloundra general manager Steve Romer said negotiations were being held with promoters on new dates.

In some good news, Paul Kelly’s On The Road Again tour has been rescheduled for Monday, July 5.

IRB State Championships (July 2-4)

The best inflatable rescue boat (IRB) crews in the state were due to get racing at Mooloolaba from Friday.

However, Surf Life Saving Queensland has announced the championships have been postponed until July 30-August 1 due to the lockdown.

Aussie World (Ride the Night, July 2)

Aussie World will be closed during the lockdown from Tuesday 6pm, reopening at 10am on Saturday.

As a result, the theme park’s Ride the Night event on Friday has been postponed until 5pm, July 9.

All current tickets for the event will remain valid.

Queensland Junior State Rugby Union Championships (July 2-4)

The Sunshine Coast Stingrays junior teams of U12, U13, U14, U16 players have had their competition in Toowoomba cancelled.

Queensland Rugby Union and Downs Rugby made the decision to cancel the entire event as a safety measure for all potential participants.

EARLIER: Most of the major sporting events on the Coast are set to still go ahead this weekend under increased Covid-19 restrictions announced by the State Government.

The State Government announced on Monday, June 28, that Sunshine Coast and Noosa residents would be required to wear masks from 1am Tuesday, June 29.

The move came after two new local cases of Covid-19 were recorded in Queensland, including one at Bli Bli.

Despite the news, it hasn’t yet dashed the hopes of national and state level athletes set to complete on Coast soil from this weekend.

The Australian Table Tennis Championships are set to be hosted at Caloundra Indoor Stadium over 10-days from Friday, July 2, while the Netball Queensland’s Nissan State Age Championships over four days from Saturday, July 3.

Monto's Tarah Staines turned out for Biloela's U15 netball team at the 2019 Nissan State Age Championships.

A Netball Queensland spokesman said while details on event protocols were still being finalised the championships were still on the cards.

“At this stage it will be,” he said.

“Obviously, those in attendance will need to wear masks and follow social distancing indoor and outdoors.

“But, at this stage, it’s going ahead as scheduled.”

Last year the event, also hosted on the Coast, welcomed about 3000 competitors from across Queensland.

Meanwhile, Table Tennis Australia CEO Scott Houston said the national championships were to “proceed as planned”.

“As of this moment we’re still going ahead as planned,” he said.

“Obviously, there is risk of more border closures but as things currently stand (it’s on).”

Min Hyung Jee, Australia’s number one ranked women’s player will be in action at Caloundra from Sunday. Picture: Annette Dew

He said only a handful of New South Wales representatives were competing, with those athletes having already got out of the state some time ago or reside in Queensland anyway.

Local sport is set to hit the field too, with Sunshine Coast Hockey in particular confirming games would go ahead as planned.

However, spectators were reminded to social distance and wear masks.

The Sunshine Coast Turf Club has also been given the green light to host the nine races as a part of the Caloundra Cup Day.

A Racing Queensland spokesman said the event will proceed as planned unless they are informed otherwise.

“The meeting has not changed as of yet and as it will take place outside, we will follow the updated procedures put in place from Queensland Health,” he said.

Sunshine Coast Turf Club’s Caloundra Cup Day is set to ahead as planned. Picture: Patrick Woods / Sunshine Coast Daily.

Information around the number of spectators, social distancing and masks are set to be announced in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the International Cricket Academy League has confirmed that they have postponed their tournament that was set to start on July 3 and go until July 12.

ICAL director, Kevin Tyler, said it is the right thing to do given the current Covid-19 situation.

“We’ve put the tournament on hold and are looking to get it all underway in mid-September,” he said.

“Due to the overall interest and the long-term objective of the tournament we didn’t want to cancel the event entirely.

“There’s not much you can do in times like these and everyone involved has been very supportive in terms of what’s next.”