A Chinese soccer fan has reportedly been found dead in his home after he stayed up for two nights in a row to watch the World Cup.
The 25-year-old male is believed to have been found dead in front of his television set inside his home in Suzhou, an area in Shanghai, only a few hours after Holland beat Spain on Friday evening. The Dutch beat the world champions by 5-1, thanks to goals from Robin Van Persie and Arjen Robben.
Parts of Brazil , where the tournament is currently being held, are 11 hours behind China, which means that the games are aired in the middle of the night in the country and eager soccer aficionados have to stay up for hours in order to follow the games.
The match between Spain and Holland on Friday only finished in China at 5 a.m. and it’s been rumored that the unnamed individual actually died because of sleep deprivation. However it’s also been speculated that he could have died of a heart attack too after staying up for two successive nights to watch World Cup matches that featured Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon, Chile, Australia, Holland and Spain.
This has provoked medical experts in the country to hand out severe warnings to Chinese fans about the dangers of sleep deprivation.
Unfortunately, over the last few international soccer tournaments there has been an increase in deaths and injuries in China due to sleep deprivation. In Euro 2012 a supporter tried to watch every game of the tournament, which was held in Poland and Ukraine, and he ended up staying awake for 11 nights in the process, before he died from exhaustion.
Back in 2006 and 2010 Chinese hospitals revealed that they saw a huge increase in patients who possessed symptoms associated with exhaustion as they tried to stay awake to watch the games in Germany and South Africa respectively.
The 2014 World Cup will continue to take place throughout the month of June until Sunday July 13. The likes of Brazil, Germany, Italy, France, Argentina, Italy and Holland have each got off to a winning start in the competition over the last few days, and it’s believed that the eventual winner of the tournament will come from this gaggle of competitors.
Who do you think will win the 2014 World Cup ? Who do you blame for the death of the Chinese soccer fan mentioned above? Should more be done to warn eager fans of the dangers of exhaustion?