Sports world rally to donate in fight against COVID-19

The sports world was thrown into a chaos after the coronavirus outbreak led to many cancellations and postponements across the world.

Many sports stars, retired and active, have been rallying to contribute to the fight against the disease, making good use of their influence.

Two-time Grand Slam winner, retired Chinese tennis star Li Na has been praised by Chinese fans for donating three million yuan (430,000 U.S. dollars) to the fight against the pandemic.

Li is a Wuhan native and her donations are among the highest from the sports community. It was reported that the charity foundation she made her donations to will provide medical materials to designated hospitals in Wuhan.

Li Na poses with the Daphne Akhurst Memorial Cup as she officially opens the Australian Open during day one of the 2015 Australian Open at Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, January 19, 2015. /VCG

Another Wuhan sports star who has made a significant contribution was Wang Shuang. The Chinese female football star donated 600,000 yuan (85,000 U.S. dollars).

Wang was caught up in the lockdown in Wuhan for the Lunar New Year reunion with her family and consequently missed the Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualifiers in Australia. She is likely to compete representing China for the playoff against Korea in June to fight for a place at the Tokyo Olympics.

Aside from Wuhan sports stars, CBA players, including Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue, also made donations. Yi donated about 500,000 yuan (70,000 U.S. dollars) and Sun donated 250,000 pairs of gloves.

Wang Shuang, #7 of China, dribbles the ball in the game against Chinese Taipei at the EAFF E-1 Football Championship in South Korea, December 17, 2019. /VCG

Basketball player Jeremy Lin donated more than 300,000 U.S. dollars. "In our effort to battle this virus, I'm matching my $150K China foundation donation with an additional $150K contribution to UNICEF USA to help fight COVID-19 globally while partnering with governments," he said on his social media Saturday.

The former NBA player has been active and vocal since the start of the coronavirus outbreak. He asked for everyone to talk and act more out of empathy and blasted U.S. politician Kevin McCarthy's racist comment on the social media.

Lin announced his donations on his social media, March 14, 2020.

In addition to individual donations, athletes also made contributions together as a team.

China's sportswear titan Li Ning Group donated 11 million yuan (1,500,000 U.S. dollars ) together with medial supplies to Wuhan.

China's table tennis team who claimed four titles out of the all five events at the Qatar Open early this month, has donated 246,900 U.S. dollars, all the prize money from this event, to support the nation's efforts in Wuhan.