{
  "id": 13259870,
  "title": "How Can We Protect Children from the Heat during Summer Sports?",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/09/how-can-we-protect-children-from-the-heat-during-summer-sports",
  "topic": "health",
  "section": "Health & Medicine",
  "published": "2026-10-09T23:00:59.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Japan News by The Yomiuri Shimbun",
    "slug": "the-japan-news-by-the-yomiuri-shimbun",
    "url": "https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/editorial/political-pulse/20261010-352931/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "To protect children from the heat during summer sports, various reforms were implemented this year. The Inter High School Sports Athletic Meeting, held in the Kinki region from July 22 to August 21, featured mist fans, air conditioning, and a focus on nighttime competitions. The track and field events, originally scheduled to run for five days, were extended to seven days, with events occurring between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. The wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) was set at a maximum of 31 to prevent competitions. The Japan Association of Athletics Federations (JAAF) took this action after a severe heatwave at a tournament in Hokkaido the previous year resulted in multiple heatstroke cases. The implementation of these countermeasures led to no emergency transport incidents for heatstroke this year.\n\nHowever, these measures came with increased operational costs, approximately ¥190 million, an increase of about ¥40 million from the initial estimates. Spectators were charged admission fees for the first time to cover these costs. Despite this, financial challenges remain. Organizers plan to explore shortening the event duration by holding some events at separate venues or reducing the number of events.\n\nOther sports, such as track and field, ice baths, coolers filled with ice water, and the \"no-advantage system\" in tennis, were also implemented to combat the heat. For the National High School Baseball Championship at Koshien Stadium in Hyogo Prefecture, a \"two-session system\" was introduced, splitting matches into morning and evening sessions. This new schedule, implemented this year, aims to avoid the peak heat hours and has led to fewer heat-related incidents.",
  "summary": "As global warming worsens, the environment for children’s sports during the summer is undergoing significant changes.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}