British sport teams have been hit by travel problems after flights were grounded around the UK because of ash from the volcanic eruption in Iceland.
Formula 1 team Red Bull had problems getting personnel and equipment to Shanghai ahead of the China Grand Prix before getting a flight in France.
Four rugby league Challenge Cup ties involving French sides are in doubt.
And Great Britain's opening match at the Ice Hockey World Championships on Saturday has been delayed.
The team have been forced to alter their travel plans to the tournament in Slovenia, swapping a flight for bus and train, meaning they will not arrive in the country until midday on Saturday.
F1 teams battle with Volcano mayhem
Their opener against Croatia, therefore, has been moved from a 1200 BST face-off to 1600 BST.
Head coach Paul Thompson said: "The last 24 hours have been manic with us stuck at Gatwick airport. Whilst I am not relishing the next 24 hours being sat on a bus going to Slovenia, at least we now know that our first game has been moved to allow us an extra four hours.
"Spirits in the camp are good. In fact, in a funny way, this whole last day or so has made us laugh and brought the whole group closer together. You never know, if we win this tournament it might become GB standard practice."
The disruption has been caused by a significant eruption at the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland, the second in less than a month.
The National Air Traffic Service has banned the vast majority of flights into and out of the UK until 1900 BST on Friday at the earliest.
The Republic of Ireland also cancelled all flights in its airspace until late on Friday morning at the earliest, causing golf's world number 11 Padraig Harrington to postpone a planned trip to view the changes at Wentworth ahead of next month's PGA Championship until Tuesday.
In rugby league's Challenge Cup, Widnes and St Helens are due to host French sides FC Lezignan-Corbieres and Toulouse respectively on Saturday.
Leigh travel to face Limoux on Saturday, with Salford visiting Catalans Dragons the following day.
Salford have decided to take a coach to Dover in order to catch a ferry to France and on to Perpignan in south France.
"It's certainly not our preferred method of getting there but the game has to be played," said Salford head coach Shaun McRae.
"There are only a few weeks until the next round and there are Super League games on both weekends, including our trip to Murrayfield, so it is important we get the game out of the way as soon as possible.
"We are full-time professionals - it's what we do for a job and occasionally we have to overcome hardships to do that job.
"We couldn't hang back and wait for the airports to open because, the truth is nobody knows when that will be, so Plan A is out of the window, we are on Plan B and may well be on Plan C by the time we get there!
"With the game not being until Sunday we can afford to take our time a little bit.
"We'll be making frequent stops for stretches and exercise and so the players can take on food. We just have to be very conscientious about the way we plan things."
After their flight to Carcassonne was cancelled on Thursday, Leigh opted to drive to Folkestone for an overnight stay before boarding the Eurostar train to France on Friday morning.
Leigh chief executive Allan Rowley said: "Today's volcanic eruption has caused chaos across Europe and unfortunately it became apparent at lunchtime that flying to France was no longer an option.
"Today has been a real challenge for us but, in the end, happily we managed to find some transport and are now on our way to Carcassonne."
Football in France has also been affected, and Ligue 1 will wait until the last possible moment before deciding whether to postpone Boulogne's home game against Marseille after the league leaders' travel plans were thrown into disarray.
Marseille were set to fly up to Boulogne after training on Friday, landing at Le Touquet airport, ahead of Saturday night's match against the relegation-threatened side, but all airports in the north of France are closed at least until 2000 local time.
Authorities are looking into the matter but remain confident the match will go ahead as scheduled.
Formula 1 team Red Bull had problems getting personnel and equipment to Shanghai ahead of the China Grand Prix before getting a flight in France.
Four rugby league Challenge Cup ties involving French sides are in doubt.
And Great Britain's opening match at the Ice Hockey World Championships on Saturday has been delayed.
The team have been forced to alter their travel plans to the tournament in Slovenia, swapping a flight for bus and train, meaning they will not arrive in the country until midday on Saturday.
F1 teams battle with Volcano mayhem
Their opener against Croatia, therefore, has been moved from a 1200 BST face-off to 1600 BST.
Head coach Paul Thompson said: "The last 24 hours have been manic with us stuck at Gatwick airport. Whilst I am not relishing the next 24 hours being sat on a bus going to Slovenia, at least we now know that our first game has been moved to allow us an extra four hours.
"Spirits in the camp are good. In fact, in a funny way, this whole last day or so has made us laugh and brought the whole group closer together. You never know, if we win this tournament it might become GB standard practice."
The disruption has been caused by a significant eruption at the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano in Iceland, the second in less than a month.
The National Air Traffic Service has banned the vast majority of flights into and out of the UK until 1900 BST on Friday at the earliest.
The Republic of Ireland also cancelled all flights in its airspace until late on Friday morning at the earliest, causing golf's world number 11 Padraig Harrington to postpone a planned trip to view the changes at Wentworth ahead of next month's PGA Championship until Tuesday.
In rugby league's Challenge Cup, Widnes and St Helens are due to host French sides FC Lezignan-Corbieres and Toulouse respectively on Saturday.
Leigh travel to face Limoux on Saturday, with Salford visiting Catalans Dragons the following day.
Salford have decided to take a coach to Dover in order to catch a ferry to France and on to Perpignan in south France.
"It's certainly not our preferred method of getting there but the game has to be played," said Salford head coach Shaun McRae.
"There are only a few weeks until the next round and there are Super League games on both weekends, including our trip to Murrayfield, so it is important we get the game out of the way as soon as possible.
"We are full-time professionals - it's what we do for a job and occasionally we have to overcome hardships to do that job.
"We couldn't hang back and wait for the airports to open because, the truth is nobody knows when that will be, so Plan A is out of the window, we are on Plan B and may well be on Plan C by the time we get there!
"With the game not being until Sunday we can afford to take our time a little bit.
"We'll be making frequent stops for stretches and exercise and so the players can take on food. We just have to be very conscientious about the way we plan things."
After their flight to Carcassonne was cancelled on Thursday, Leigh opted to drive to Folkestone for an overnight stay before boarding the Eurostar train to France on Friday morning.
Leigh chief executive Allan Rowley said: "Today's volcanic eruption has caused chaos across Europe and unfortunately it became apparent at lunchtime that flying to France was no longer an option.
"Today has been a real challenge for us but, in the end, happily we managed to find some transport and are now on our way to Carcassonne."
Football in France has also been affected, and Ligue 1 will wait until the last possible moment before deciding whether to postpone Boulogne's home game against Marseille after the league leaders' travel plans were thrown into disarray.
Marseille were set to fly up to Boulogne after training on Friday, landing at Le Touquet airport, ahead of Saturday night's match against the relegation-threatened side, but all airports in the north of France are closed at least until 2000 local time.
Authorities are looking into the matter but remain confident the match will go ahead as scheduled.
