The Indigenous Nationals, which features netball, volleyball, touch football and basketball, will now move back one year ©Unisport Australia

The Indigenous Nationals, an Australian university sporting competition, has been postponed to 2021 due to the global crisis surrounding COVID-19.

A decision was taken by UniSport Australia as well as hosts University of Newcastle and the Wollotuka Institute to move the competition to next year.

In the meantime, the deadline to apply to compete for the 2021 Games has now been extended to May 15.

Provisionally, the Indigenous Nationals will now take place in June or July 2021.

Unisport Australia recently cancelled and postponed a number of their events due to the spread of COVID-19.

Australia recently shut state borders and suspended the Australian Football League (AFL) season to combat the spread, with over 3,100 confirmed cases coming from the nation, including 13 fatalities.

The Indigenous Nationals, formally known as the National Indigenous Tertiary Education Student Games, comprises a week of sporting, cultural and social activities.

University teams play in four different sports - netball, volleyball, touch football and basketball.