Oleg Matytsin says Russia can host other events in the wake of the coronavirus crisis ©Getty Images

Russian Sports Minister Oleg Matytsin has said the nation are ready to host international sports tournaments, including Olympic qualifiers that have been postponed due to the COVID-19 crisis.

According to TASS, Matytsin has welcomed tournaments being moved to Russia when they would otherwise be cancelled or postponed indefinitely and highlighted the Olympic qualification events, that have been affected in many Olympic sports including basketball and boxing.

Major events postponed so far include the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, that will now take place in 2021 and the UEFA European Football Championships that will also take place next year.

Matytsin, who is also the International University Sports Federation (FISU) President, said his nation is ready to support the sporting world.

The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is one of many events to face postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic ©Getty Images
The Tokyo 2020 Olympics is one of many events to face postponement due to the COVID-19 pandemic ©Getty Images

He said, "Russia will be ready and we have forwarded our proposals to Russian national sports Federations for them to get in touch with the international Federations to offer them assistance with the cancelled tournaments, particularly with the qualifying tournaments for the 2021 Olympics.

"Russia is ready to extend a helping hand to organise sports tournaments in our country."

However, Russia's death rate and confirmed cases rate has been increasing day-on-day in relation to COVID-19, with there being more then 11,900 confirmed cases of infection and 94 deaths, including 18 reported today.

There have been more than 1.6 million confirmed cases worldwide which has resulted in the deaths of over 97,000 people.