There IS sporting action happening in weekend! Here's proof sport will find way

Sports fans around the world have been left stunned by the decimation to the sporting calendar wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.

Long gone are the days when many would moan at a quiet international break - how wonderful now seems the thought of watching Scotland at Albania on a cold Thursday night.

Remarkably though some sport has managed to survive the mass postponements inflicted on the likes of the Premier League, international cricket and world golf tours.

So if you really want to watch sport - any sport - you don't quite have to resort to looking up when the cheese rolling starts just yet.

Here's what is still going on around the world this weekend.

FOOTBALL

Of course the Premier League is cancelled until further notice, major European leagues are on hold and even non-League games are off.

But still Turkey's Super Lig ploughs on. Fenerbahce will get the weekend's action underway on Friday night when they host bottom-placed Kayserispor, and the title race continues with leaders Trabzonspor continuing their fight with Istanbul Basaksehir and Galatasaray, whose star striker is Radamel Falcao.

John Obi Mikel won't be playing, however, as he's quit Trabzonspor in protest at fixtures continuing amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

Belarussian football fans can also still enjoy their Premier League, but as far as Europe goes, that's your lot.

Australia's A-League continues without crowds, despite other sports in the country shutting down, including cricket, rugby union and basketball.

Runaway league leaders Sydney FC, spearheaded by former Reading striker Adam le Fondre, have a local derby against Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday.

Elsewhere, you'll have to look hard to find any action, with fixtures only going ahead in Angola, Palestine and Bahrain.

RACING

While the sport in Britain has been shut down until at least the end of April, Horse Racing Ireland have decided to continue racing behind closed doors with one meeting a day, no owners and no overseas runners.

That means there will be a full card at Dundalk on Friday, Downpatrick on Saturday and Naas on Sunday.

Meanwhile, in Australia racing will continue apace, but behind closed doors. Saturday sees Rosehill host the Golden Slipper, the world's richest two-year-old race at $3.5million (£1.75m). The bookies's favourite to win is Tagaloa.

There is also greyhound racing scheduled up and down England, such as at Kinsley, Swindon, Newcastle, Nottingham, Harlow, Hove, Monmore, Crayford, Romford, Henlow and Peterborough.

RUGBY LEAGUE

Amid some controversy, Australia's NRL has decided to play on. Clubs and players came together to agree to the league's decision, after taking additional measures to distance players from the general public.

The season is only one week old, and its second will see defending premiers Sydney Roosters host Manly Warringah Sea Eagles, while last season's minor premiers Melbourne Storm play Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks.

AUSTRALIAN RULES FOOTBALL

You might by now have guessed that mainstream sport is rather thin on the ground. Little-followed outside Australia, the ARL is nevertheless huge in its homeland and its new season kicked off on Thursday after administrators refused to give in to the coronavirus pandemic.

'Footy is resilient and footy will find a way,' said not Jeff Goldblum in Jurassic Park but AFL chief executive Gillon McLachlan this week.

In effect that means Aussie Rules matches will be played without crowds and the number of regular-season rounds are cut from 23 to 17, with the playing time of games also reduced slightly.

The lack of fans means that the AFL season kicked off on Thursday in front of 90,000 empty seats at the MCG when defending champions Richmond beat Carlton 16.9 (105) - 12.9 (81).

TABLE TENNIS

The Moscow Pro League will not be cowed by a mere virus. Igor Elistratov vs Aleksandr Chencov and Vladimir Petrov v Vladislav Fedorov must go on.

Absurdly, punters in the UK can bet on dozens and dozens of table tennis matches taking place in Russia and Ukraine this weekend. Still, it's better than no sport at all, right?