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Coronavirus and Sports

Positive COVID-19 Tests In Japan's NPB Show Challenge Facing U.S.

Yomiuri Giants SS Hayato Sakamoto is Nippon Professional Baseball's reigning MVPGETTY IMAGES

Reports of two players in Japan's top pro baseball league testing positive for coronavirus show "how complicated and tenuous any resumption of play still is," as news "continues to break this week regarding restarts" of U.S. sports leagues, according to Michael Rand of the Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE. The positive tests, one of which belongs to a top Nippon Professional Baseball league star in Hayato Sakamoto, come as NPB "ramps up training with games just over two weeks away from a scheduled resumption on June 19." Both players play for the Yomiuri Giants, and as a result of the positive tests, an exhibition game has been "postponed in an attempt to limit the spread of the virus." This comes as both MLS and the NBA "move swiftly toward plans for resuming play," while MLB "maybe works toward a deal." However, little discussion "seems to have taken place around the threshold for what would alter plans or halt play." Rand: "What if, even with extensive testing, there's an outbreak that goes beyond isolated cases? What if a prominent player in a U.S. league gets coronavirus?" If LeBron James were "stricken with coronavirus and had to miss multiple weeks of play while also risking developing serious health complications, would the NBA change its course?" (Minneapolis STAR TRIBUNE, 6/4).

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