Taiwan's top-tier semi-professional Women's Super Basketball League (WSBL) on Thursday officially declared Cathay Life the winner of its 17th season after canceling the playoffs, due to the spread of COVID-19 among players.
Having finished the regular season on April 24, an emergency meeting of the four-team league decided to cancel the playoffs, which were slated to start on May 3, the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) said in a statement.
The CTBA said the decision was made to protect its players, while training for the playoff games was also deemed impossible due to the number of players quarantined because of close contacts with infected players.
According to the league's rules, the winner is decided based on the regular season rankings if the season is unable to be finished due to disease or other reasons, the CTBA said.
Cathay Life was declared the winner by being at the top of the rankings with a 16-2 record, followed by Taiyuan Textile with a 14-4 card. The remaining two teams are Taiwan Power and Chunghwa Telecom.
The conclusion of the WSBL season follows that of the curtailed men's semi-professional Super Basketball League (SBL) season, which abruptly ended Wednesday, also because of the spread of COVID-19 among players.
However, Taiwan's two fully professional men's basketball leagues, the P. LEAGUE+ and the T1 LEAGUE, said on Wednesday that they will not call off their seasons as of now.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel