then of course began the speculation that the race might be in doubt. lewis hamilton — world champion in the official press conference said overnight it was "shocking" that formula 1 was pressing ahead. that came before the news that a member of the mclaren team had tested positive for coronavirus. mclaren then announced — they were out — they withdraw from the race weekend.and now — the bbc understands — the whole race is off. obviously, early hours of the morning currently in melbourne but a very perculiar atmosphere — here's out f1 reporter jenny gow who is in melbourne. half of the fans i would say didn't come today, for anybody who lives locally, they can come for free on a thursday and experience what it's like in the paddock. it was very quiet. a lot of the big corporations in melbourne have said to their staff that they can't travel into

the paddock, and even within the confines of the people who travel the world for f1, i think there was anxiety, really, we have all come over here, because we want to watch racing, we want to report on reason, we want to see what's going to happen this season, but where any of us sure happen this season, but where any of us sure that we wouldn't come back having tested positive for coronavirus? no. no one can be right i'iow. coronavirus? no. no one can be right now. it was certainly anxiety going into today. so that'sjenny gow in melbourne. where then, does this leave the season. melbourne of course was the opening race this weekend — that now is not going ahead. the competition then moves on to bahrain next weekend. we already know that is going to be held behind closed doors with no fans allowed in. after that, the first ever race due to be held in vietnam — that's at the beginning of april — but that is in serious doubt now after the country said it will refuse entry to anyone who has been to italy in the previous 14 days. that effectively rules out people

from ferrari, alfa romeo, the tyre supplier pirelli and so on — so that race looks in jeopardy. and after that was china — and that as we know has already been cancelled so the fi calandar already in tatters. adam, we knew that the next big tennis tournament in miami was off, but the next five or six weeks of the tour have now been scrapped over the other side of the world, some huge developments as well today. we'll come on to an extraordinary tale in basketball injust a moment. first though, tennis. the atp tour, that's the mens tour, has postponed all play for six weeks because of "escalating health and safety issues" arising from the coronavirus outbreak. we understand much of the pressure to postpone this, came from the players who were unhappy about all the issues. the miami open was cancelled earlier today, following the postponement of

indian wales and the fed cup finals earlier in the week. atp chairman andrea gaudenzi — has said today we believe this is the responsible action needed at this time in order protect the health and safety of our players, staff, the wider tennis community and general public health in the face of this global pandemic.the womens tour, the wta is yet to say what they're going to do but it is expected there will be no tennis before the latter part of april. so, to basketball then. the headline, is that the nba season — has been suspended. all matches currently off. but its happened in incredibly dramatic circumstances. the rumours of this suspension began emerging when players were on court, about to start in the match between oklahoma city thunder and the utahjazz. lets have a look at those pictures. extraordinary scenes, as the players were eventually

orderered back to the locker room because one of utahs players rudy gobert had tested positive. he wasn't at the arena but shortly after the entire nba season was suspended as those players went into isolation, as have a number of other teams that have played the jazz over the past fortnight. now, this is where things get even more perculiar, because the player at the centre of this, the french player rudy gobert — it later emerged had behaved in a rather strange way at a press conference just last week. he, in a slightly strange coronavirusjoke, had deliberately touched all the equipment of the journalst. here it is — a rather odd joke, but one that has now massively backfired because he is now reportedly the player at the centre of the entire nba being postponed. nobody particularly impressed with him today.

that is for certain. finally, lets return a little closer to home. lots of discussion in recent days about the six nations with two of the final—weekend matches postponed — but wales‘ match with scotland in cardiff on saturday is due to go ahead as planned.thats still facing a very uncertain conclusion. this afternoon, its been announced that the pro“; has been suspended indefinitely. round 14 of the competition for clubs from scotland, ireland, wales, italy and south africa was due to take place next weekend. that now has been postponed.“ that now has been postponed. is a growing list, isn't it? adam wilde, thank you indeed. let's have quick look at some of the day's other headlines. manchester united are playing the first leg of their europa league tie against lask in austria. it's the first time in their history they've had to play a match behind closed doors. they have been given £350

compensation each. eddiejones has escaped with a reprimand after suggesting the referee was biassed towards wales during england's win at twickenham last weekend. jones criticised ben o'keefe for sending off manu tuilangi and said it felt like they were playing against "16 men". just breaking in the last few minutes, joe mollo has received a ten week ban for his clash with allen whenjones, a four week ban for that dangerous tackle after being sent off. after mounting a legal challenge, a group of british olympic athletes have reached agreement with the boa allowing them greater commercialfreedom. they will now be allowed to pursue personal endoresemenst and sponsorship during the games period. before campaigns had to be submitted to the poa for approval, but now, there is sort of a sense that things are, as long as you are, sort of, putting your campaigns within the rules, there is no need for that sort of concern. so it's fantastic, it means it just sort of concern. so it's fantastic, it means itjust opens up so many doors for athletes to start working

with marketing in their own opportunities, we are really, really pleased. enough sport, let's head to the cheltenham festival. the national hunt racing fraternity defying the coronavirus climate, let's speak to our sports correspondent andy swiss who is there. hi andy, i always think of day three there as a bit of a breather before the gold cup tomorrow, but there was a huge upset in the stayers hurdle. that's right, yes. a big surprise, as you say. all talk before hand was about paisley park, laster‘s winter, the red—hot favourite to win it again, but he was nowhere to be seen, came in seventh place. in the end, it was the 15—1 outsider, liz mikell oscar, who came through to

wina commanding mikell oscar, who came through to win a commanding performance. we have seen some upsets at this festival, but that was arguably the biggest upset so far, adam wedge, the jackie, his first ever win at the jackie, his first ever win at the cheltenham festival, and also delayed for a trainer, rebecca curtis. he was brilliant, he was really cool. i think it helped that he galloped. it was a nice position, one thing he did a last time was a bit keen, he switched up today. can coast on the hill, and i wasjust pleased, and he galloped and galloped, and he's a little star. the bookies will be happy with that as well, i think there was another outsider, wasn't there, in one of the final races, where is the money going for the big one tomorrow, and the gold cup? yeah, as you say, at 3:30pm, all eyes will be on the

cheltenham gold cup, but all eyes will be really on al boone, the favourite, laster‘s winner, hoping to become the first horse since best mate to win the cheltenham gold cup two years running, jackie pulled town and had a good win today, men in the ryan air chase, and they will be hoping they can be a winning combination it again tomorrow with al boone. just a quick word on the crowd here today. obviously, a lot of concern over coronavirus, in fa ct, of concern over coronavirus, in fact, the crowd today, 65,000, that's just a couple of thousand down on the crowd last year on day three, so it seems that the vast majority of fans haven't been deterred. and he sweats, many thanks indeed. —— andy swiss. katie ormerod has got coronavirus to thank for her first global snowboard title, sort of, she was well clear at the top of the slopestyle standings when the final world cup

event in the czech republic was called off, so she was given the title, but she has had a fantastic season. i spoke to her earlier i'm so happy, like, it'sjust meant to be. my comeback season without any pressure, just having fun, yeah, i ended up having the best season of my career. so it's been amazing. i'm so happy. is a site anticlimax that you didn't go out on a high, because obviously, you were crowned champion without getting to go to the final eventin without getting to go to the final event in the czech republic, because of, guess what, coronavirus. yeah, i'm just looking at it as like, we have had four really good slopes before that, and i'm obviously really ha p py before that, and i'm obviously really happy to be crowned the champion anyway, but i was going into the last world cup with 400 points ahead of second—place, so i was already feeling really confident that i was in a good position in any way to win it. and also, we have had like every world cup season has been good weather, which is really unusual. usually you get 1—2 that we re unusual. usually you get 1—2 that were difficult conditions. so good

competitions, it's just been such a good season, it kind of doesn't really matter to you much that the last one was cancelled. obviously, it's a shame, but i'm still happy. especially considering thatjust a couple of years ago, you were supposed to have a career ending injury. yeah, the olympics back into young chang, they didn't go my way at all. i had a really bad injury, but my healing —— broke my healing to pieces, how did several operations, skin grafts, everything just went to worst case scenario, halfway through the rehab them i did think maybe it would be career ending because i was physically the strongest i'd ever been, my muscles we re strongest i'd ever been, my muscles were so strong, i worked so hard in all the rehab, but i couldn't walk without being in pain, i was limping. iwas without being in pain, i was limping. i was like if this pain doesn't go away, i don't know how it will be able to snowboard, but luckily, i was just positive, will be able to snowboard, but luckily, i wasjust positive, —— kept pushing through, pushed through it, it did mean having another operation to fix a problem, but i got there in the end, to come back now and have this awesome season, it's just the best feeling ever. now and have this awesome season, it's just the best feeling evenm must‘ve been mentally tough.

it's just the best feeling evenm must've been mentally toughm it's just the best feeling evenm must've been mentally tough. it was mentally tough, especially when i didn't know if i would be able to snowboard again. it is really hard to come to terms with. ijust had to keep staying positive, even when it did feel impossible. this has been my best season ever, andi this has been my best season ever, and i had a total different mindset before the olympics, and it's just, you know, having no pressure, not letting any external or internal pressures get to me. just having as much fun as possible and not really focusing on the end result, just focusing on the end result, just focusing on the end result, just focusing on more on the run that i'm doing in the moment, and kind of like, ifi doing in the moment, and kind of like, if i get a doing in the moment, and kind of like, if i geta round doing in the moment, and kind of like, if i get a round that i want to do, the result will come from that. so take that mindset into the next couple of seasons, going into the limbic scheme and hopefully, it will go my way. —— going into the olympics. a remeinder of our top story, the impact of coronovirus, sport in the uk cleared to carry on for now, but formula one, he was caught on camera clutching the growing area of alan nguyen joins. he's been banned for ten weeks, that will get a lot of reaction, because many people thought that he shouldn't be banned

at all, and people should see the funny side. manny four weeks for a dangerous tackle. don't forget to bbc sport website for an update, updated all the time on the impact of coronavirus on sport. but for me —— from me and the rest of the team, goodbye for now. good evening. thursday has been a windy day across the board. some day across the board. of those showers will fade to we some of those showers will fade too. we will keep a few showers feeding into a northerly flow through scotla nd into a northerly flow through scotland come even to lower levels, they could be wintry. so, when trading is confined to the hills of northern england, elsewhere, they will fizzle out. lengthy clear skies, later wins, it's will fizzle out. lengthy clear skies, laterwins, it's going will fizzle out. lengthy clear skies, later wins, it's going to be a chilly night, particularly for the northern half of the uk, where we are expecting a widespread frost. even 1—2 pockets further south. so,

through friday, quite a story thanks toa through friday, quite a story thanks to a ridge of high pressure that's building in. but, notice, we have got rain waiting in the wings. so, through friday, a very different feel to our weather. we will have a cool breeze down these north sea coast, and the chance for an isolated shower, but many places remaining dry with some good spells of sunshine. it will start to cloud over to it down toward southwest england and wales though, as that rain starts to show its hand.

you're watching beyond 100 days. coronavirus is spreading, says the british prime minister, and the uk is on the same trajectory as italy. borisjohnson says anyone with a new cough or a temperature must self—isolate for seven days. the government says the containment stage is over, the challenge now is to delay the spread as long as possible, to ease pressure on the nhs. i must level with you, level with the british public. more families, many more families, are going to lose loved ones before their time. the uk infection rate is doubling every four days, but donald trump thinks the uk is doing it better than europe. he has banned travel from all eu countries —