Swine flu has hit sumo wrestling in Japan, where 12 fighters have become the latest sportsmen to contract the virus, already affecting several baseball and rugby players, officials said on Thursday.
Six low-ranking sumo wrestlers, five from the same Tokyo stable, were found to be infected with the swine flu virus on Wednesday, a spokesman for the Japan Sumo Association said. Six others earlier tested positive.
“We will go ahead with exhibition sumo tournaments at the weekend,” the official said. “We are working out measures against viral infections.”
Media reports said sumo wrestlers and officials will be asked to wear surgical masks and refrain from shaking hands with supporters, although the fighters will not wear the masks in the ring.
Fans will have to disinfect their hands before entering the sumo arena.
On Wednesday, Japanese baseball club Nippon Ham Fighters said they would test all their members for swine flu after two players and a coach were infected.
Six other players who were also showing flu symptoms had been treated with medication and separated from other team members at a local hotel.
A number of rugby players from two universities — Waseda and Kanto Gakuin — were also found infected last week at their summer training camps in the mountain resort of Sugadaira, northwest of Tokyo, press reports said.
They canceled their training matches, the reports said.
Japan’s government on Wednesday warned that a “full-fledged epidemic” of swine flu may have started after reporting the country’s third death in five days linked to the virus.
Authorities believe tens of thousands of people have caught the virus which first entered the nation in May, although they say they have seen no sign of it mutating to become more deadly.
Jobe Bellingham on Tuesday admitted to having “anxieties” on following in brother Jude’s footsteps after joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer. Jobe Bellingham, 19, is two years younger than Jude Bellingham, who joined Real Madrid in 2023 after three years at Dortmund. A centerpiece of the England national team, Jude Bellingham has emerged as one of the best players in the world in recent seasons. The younger Jobe Bellingham joined Dortmund in June from Sunderland after their promotion to the English Premier League. He admitted he understood what the perception would be ahead of the move to Germany. “It’s something you do think about.
Before Tuesday’s 7-2 win at the Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers manager Pat Murphy suggested “most people couldn’t tell you five players on our team.” A look at the standings would indicate more Brewers players soon will be recognized by more fans. After all, it is difficult to overlook a team that not only continues to extend their lead in the National League Central, but also boasts the best record in the majors. “What we’re doing in here right now is special,” right-handed pitcher Freddy Peralta said after allowing only four hits and one run in five innings, while setting a career high with
A baseball team from New Taipei City won the US Pony Palomino Division World Series yesterday in Laredo, Texas, defeating the US West representative team from Azusa, California, 2-1. Ku-Pao Home Economics and Commercial High School earned the right to represent Taiwan in the Pony Palomino (17 to 18 age group) World Series after winning this year's Wang Chen-chih Cup, a competition named after Taiwanese-Japanese baseball legend Wang Chen-chih (王貞治), also known as Sadaharu Oh. In the championship game against Azusa, Ku-Pao's starting pitcher Luo Yu-yan (羅于晏) was erratic early, giving up two hits in the bottom of the first inning, followed
Taiwanese pitcher Teng Kai-wei took the mound in New York on Saturday as the starting pitcher for the San Francisco Giants in his MLB season debut against the New York Mets, pitching 3.1 innings and allowing five runs. The Taiwanese right-hander struggled early, giving up three runs in the bottom of the first inning, including a three-run homer to Mets slugger Pete Alonso — his 250th career home run. However, Teng was not fazed and soon found his footing, holding the Mets scoreless in the bottom of the second and third innings. Meanwhile, Mets starter Kodai Senga of Japan made a few errors
RSS