The NHL and international officials are now in wait-and-see mode after reaching an agreement to send players to the Beijing Olympics this winter.

NHL players are going back to the Olympics.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman says time is running out to reach a deal to send players to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.

Kansas City Royals players listen to the national anthem before the team's spring baseball game against the Chicago Cubs in Mesa, Ariz., Tuesday, March 2, 2021. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)The Latest on the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on sports around the world:___The 2021 Penn Relays have been canceled for the second straight time due to the coronavirus pandemic and local restrictions on large gatherings. The Penn Relays also is aiming to host a meet for open and professional athletes and a scholastic meet in the coming months prior to U.S. Olympic qualifying deadlines. Team officials have worked for months with Kansas City health officials and the Jackson County Sports Authority to ensure fans will have a safe experience, the team said. City health director Dr. Fredrick Echols says new COVID-19 infections have been declining and the positivity rate in St. Louis dipped below 5% for the first time since mid-September.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, left, speaks with International Ice Hockey Federation President Rene Fasel during their meeting in Minsk, Belarus, Monday, Jan. 11, 2021. (Nikolai Petrov/BelTA Pool Photo via AP)ZURICH – The hockey world championships were pulled from Belarus on Monday following pressure from opposition groups and a threatened boycott by sponsors. The IIHF said its council “determined that it is currently impossible to ensure the welfare of teams, spectators and officials” in Belarus. IIHF president Rene Fasel had tried to keep the men's tournament in Belarus, claiming it could build bridges between the opposition and Lukashenko. Denmark, the host in 2018, and Slovakia, the host in 2019, have both offered to step in.

DÜSSELDORF – DÜThe International Ice Hockey Federation will make a decision in the coming days on whether to pull its world championship from Belarus as pressure increases from sponsors over a crackdown on opposition groups in the country. “If we cancel the games in Minsk, I think we should make a decision until the end of the month. This is the maximum, as we have to choose another place where we can play the championship," IIHF president Rene Fasel told The Associated Press in a recent interview. Fasel met with longtime Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk on Monday, saying he wanted to use the tournament to build bridges between Lukashenko and the opposition. Fasel is due to step down as IIHF president later this year after 27 years in charge.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko defended his country’s ability to host the ice hockey world championship on Monday by ridiculing the United States following the violent attack at the Capitol. The authoritarian leader met with International Ice Hockey Federation president Rene Fasel for talks amid calls to move the world championship following mass protests against Lukashenko’s rule. “In our country, protesters and other dissatisfied people don’t storm government agencies and capitols,” Lukashenko said. Authorities have cracked down hard on the largely peaceful demonstrations, the biggest of which attracted up to 200,000 people. Lukashenko has been president of the Belarus Olympic Committee since the 1990s and Fasel is an IOC member who previously sat on the executive committee.

FILE - This Aug. 23, 2019, file photo shows International Ice Hockey Federation President Rene Fasel watching the opening ceremony of the 2019 Sirius Junior Club World Cup ice hockey tournament in Sochi, Russia. Fasel is encouraged upon learning the NHLs tentatively agreed to labor deal opens the possibility of the league allowing its players to return to Olympic competition. The Olympics are a special event in itself, but having NHL players there, even as actual players, we love to see the best on best. Fasel, whose term as IIHF president was extended a year to September 2021, praised the NHL and players for addressing the Olympics in the CBA. Im happy that in the end they understand this is important for the development of ice hockey in the future.___AP Sports Writer Aaron Beard contributed from Raleigh, North Carolina.