The Brazilian leg of this year's World Surf League tour has been canceled because of surging coronavirus cases in the South American country, the World Surf League (WSL) said on Thursday.

The Rio Pro surfing event in Saquarema had been shifted from June to August, but organizers decided they could not guarantee the safe running of the match.

"The WSL has continued to monitor the situation and made the decision to cancel the event for 2021 out of an abundance of caution for the safety of athletes, staff and the local community," read a statement on the entity's official website.

"The WSL looks forward to returning to Saquarema with the world's best surfers in 2022."

According to official figures, Brazil has had more than 17 million confirmed COVID-19 cases, over 482,000 of which have been fatal.

Surfing, which will make its debut at Tokyo Olympics, will involve 20 male and 20 female world's top players competing in three rounds and finals. Olympic surfing matches will be held between July 25 and August 1 at Tsurigasaki Beach, roughly 100 kilometers away from Tokyo.

Therefore, the WSL has also postponed the Mexican leg of the tour in Barra de la Cruz to August 10-20 from its original July dates, and the Outerknown Tahiti Pro has been moved to August 24.

The next surfing event will be held in Lemoore, California, U.S., from June 18 to 20.

(With input from Xinhua)