High-level sports was one of the first social activities shut down by the coronavirus pandemic and many athletes, who play in front of crowds and train with team-mates, have been among the high-profile victims.

While only one sports personality, the 76-year-old former Real Madrid president, Lorenzo Sanz, has so far died, but those infected spread across the age range and the sporting spectrum, with clusters in Italian football, the NBA and cycling.

The numbers could be higher because not all clubs are testing.

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Valladolid in the Spanish Liga rejected test kits saying they should be used on those who need them.

The NBA’s Golden State Warriors said they would only test players with symptoms.

A look at global events affected due to coronavirus

“We’re treating ourselves like people, which is what we are,” said general manager Bob Myers. “We’re just a basketball team.”

Here is a look at some of the most high-profile cases from the sporting community so far:

  • Sanz, who died on March 21, was in charge of Real Madrid from 1995-2000, overseeing two Champions League titles. “My father has just passed away. He did not deserve this ending and in this way,” tweeted his son, Lorenzo Sanz junior.
  • On March 17, while the International Olympic Committee and local organisers were still insisting the Tokyo Games would go ahead as scheduled this summer, Japan Olympic Committee deputy chief Kozo Tashima said he had contracted coronavirus. “I have a mild fever. Examinations showed a symptom of pneumonia, but I’m fine,” the 62-year-old Tashima said in a statement, issued via the Japan Football Association, which he also heads.
  • Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta tested positive for COVID-19. The Premier League was suspended the day after the Gunners announced Arteta had tested positive. As a result of the Spaniard’s diagnosis, the Arsenal squad was sent into self-isolation for 14 days.
  • Callum Hudson-Odoi, the 19-year-old Chelsea and England winger on March 13 became the first Premier League player to test positive. The club said at the time that the teenager was “doing well.”
  • Among other young, rising, stars to catch the virus is 20-year-old Brazilian tennis player Thiago Seyboth Wild who announced on Wednesday that he had tested positive. He said he started feeling ill “about 10 days ago.” That came after a globe-trotting period typical of the tennis circuit. On March 1, Seyboth Wild won his first ATP title in Santiago Chile. The following week he played in a Davis Cup tie in Adelaide, Australia.
  • “I really don’t think he’s the only player who has it,” former player Lindsey Davenport told Tennis Channel. “We have so many players all over the world.”
  • Former NBA season MVP, Kevin Durant, a 31-year-old forward and former NBA most valuable player, was one of four Brooklyn Nets players to have tested positive. The forward had been sitting out the season recovering from an Achilles injury.
  • Utah Jazz star Rudy Gobert tested positive for the virus. The Frenchman had to apologise after pointedly touching every microphone and voice recorder on a table in front of him at a media conference, only to then test positive for Covid-19.
  • Defender Daniele Rugani at Italian champions Juventus was the first player from Italy’s Serie A to test positive. Since then, team-mates Blaise Matuidi, a World Cup winner with France, and star striker Paulo Dybala have tested positive.
  • Argentine international Dybala has spoken about his symptoms. “I feel better now after some strong symptoms,” the 26-year-old told JTV channel.

  “A couple of days ago I was not well, I felt heavy and after five minutes of movement I had to stop because I was struggling to breathe. Now I can move and walk to start trying to train, because when I tried in the past few days I started to shake too much. I gasped for air and as a result I couldn’t do anything, after five minutes I was already very tired, I felt the body heavy and my muscles hurt. Now I’m fine. My fiancée Oriana (Sabatini) has also overcome the symptoms.”  

  • Former AC Milan defender Paolo Maldini, another World Cup winner, and his footballer son Daniel announced they were positive.
  • Six players at Sampdoria, Bartosz Bereszynski, Albin Ekdal, Morten Thorsby, Antonio La Gumina, Manolo Gabbiadini and Fabio Depaoli, along with team doctor Amedo Baldari, have tested positive. But team-mate Omar Colley said reports that he had tested positive were wrong.
  • In Spain, centre-backs Ezequiel Garay from Argentina and Frenchman Eliaquim Mangala are among five cases.
  • In Germany, Luca Kilian is among four known cases in the Bundesliga but the news is good for the 20-year-old Paderborn defender. The club’s sporting director, Martin Przondziono, told German media Kilian “had two days of real trouble, with fever and chills, but he’s better now.”
  • Sean Payton, the long-time head coach of the New Orleans Saints in the NFL, announced March 19 that he has coronavirus. “If people understand the curve, and understand the bump, we can easily work together as a country to reduce it,” 56-year-old Peyton, who led the Saints to their only Super Bowl victory in 2009.
  • Another iconic coach, Fatih Terim, the 66-year-old manager of Istanbul football giants Galatasaray, has tested positive.
  • Belgian midfielder Marouane Fellaini, the former Manchester United and Everton midfielder who is with Shandong Luneng Taishan in China also reported that he had tested positive.
  • Former England cricketer Alex Hales self-isolated after showing symptoms. Two other England cricketers, Tom Curran and Jade Dernbach, who had gone out to play darts with Hales to celebrate Curran’s 25th birthday, also self-isolated.
  • The first sportspeople to be hit by the virus were at cycling’s UAE Tour in late February. One of the victims, Colombian rider Fernando Gaviria tweeted on March 12: “I’m okay and I’m feeling good”. But as recently as Monday, cycling media were reporting that he was one of eight people still quarantined in a hospital in Abu Dhabi.
  • In India, while there has been no case of a sportsperson testing positive so far, six-time boxing world champion Mary Kom was criticised for flouting quarantine. She returned from the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Jordan broke the mandatory 14-day quarantine protocol. She attended a breakfast meet for Members of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan hosted by Ramnath Kovind, the President of India on March 18.BJP lawmaker Dushyant Singh, who came in contact with coronavirus positive Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor at a party, was also there at the President’’s House. Singh is now in self-quarantine.
  • A player from A-League side Newcastle Jets on Saturday became Australia’s first professional footballer to test positive for coronavirus. The man was not named but reports said he was involved in the team’s Monday night 2-1 home win over Melbourne City behind closed doors – the last game before the season was suspended due to the pandemic.A member of staff at Wellington Phoenix was also confirmed as having Covid-19. “Newcastle Jets can confirm that a player in its A-League squad has returned a positive test,” the club said in a statement. “The player and his family are in good health, and currently in quarantine in accordance with New South Wales Health protocols.”

(With AFP inputs)