Japan's packed sports calendar faces severe disruption for the foreseeable future after the quake-tsunami disaster that is feared to have killed more than 10,000 people and disrupted lives country-wide.
Next week's world figure skating championships fell victim, joining a growing list of major sports events cancelled after Friday's huge quake and tsunami in the country's northeast that has raised fears of a nuclear disaster.
At the weekend, 19 J-League football games were called off -- the season had only started a week earlier -- and the football association said all games for the rest of the month in the top two divisions were also off.
The new season in baseball, the country's top sport, is now under threat because of planned power cuts to cope with an anticipated electricity shortage caused by explosions at a nuclear plant.
Players also face a moral dilemma, with the baseball season supposed to start on March 25.
"I am asking myself can I just go on playing when a majority of people in Japan are in trouble," Nippon Ham Fighters ace pitcher Yu Darvish told Japanese media.
"I am a baseball player and a human being as well. I cannot think about baseball alone as I normally do," said the 24-year-old Iranian-Japanese who spent three years as a high school student in disaster-stricken Sendai.
The International Skating Union decided to either postpone or cancel the March 21-27 championships in Tokyo because countries have concerns about their nationals travelling to Japan, which continues to be rattled by aftershocks.
On Sunday, the annual international women's marathon in Nagoya, featuring Romania's 2001 world champion Lidia Simon, was called off.
The Asian Football Confederation has postponed for the time being all Champions League home matches involving four J-League sides -- including fixtures at Nagoya on Tuesday and Kashima on Wednesday.
But the Japan Football Association has declared it would go ahead with two international friendlies at home -- against Montenegro on March 25 at Shizuoka and against New Zealand on March 29 in Tokyo.
"It is meaningful to stage games in Tokyo when people around the world are worried about Japan," FA president Junji Ogura said. "By doing so we can show Tokyo and Japan are alright."
But it is not clear if the national side's Italian coach will be there to coach the side with the Asian champions supposed to name their squad for the friendlies on Thursday.
Alberto Zaccheroni and his staff flew home to Italy Saturday, saying their families were "terribly worried" and needed to be assured that they were alright. No return date has been fixed.
The 8.9-magnitude quake also caused cracks on the track and damaged spectator seats at the Twin Ring Motegi circuit, north of Tokyo, which is due to host the MotoGP Japanese Grand Prix on April 24.
A domestic road race there next Sunday was knocked off the circuit's calendar.
"At present, we are checking the extent of damage caused by the quake. We have yet to consider what we would do hereafter," circuit spokesman Yoshihisa Ueno said.
Horse, cycling and boat races were also cancelled at the weekend.