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Yomiuri Giants’ Sakamoto, Oshiro test positive for virus

Yomiuri Giants' Hayato Sakamoto (center) plays in a preseason baseball game against Seibu Lions in Tokyo, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. (AP)
Yomiuri Giants' Hayato Sakamoto (center) plays in a preseason baseball game against Seibu Lions in Tokyo, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. (AP)
Yomiuri Giants' Takumi Ohshiro plays in a preseason baseball game against Seibu Lions in Tokyo, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. (AP)
Yomiuri Giants' Takumi Ohshiro plays in a preseason baseball game against Seibu Lions in Tokyo, Tuesday, June 2, 2020. (AP)
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03 Jun 2020 08:06:47 GMT9
03 Jun 2020 08:06:47 GMT9

TOKYO: The Yomiuri Giants said Wednesday that two of its players, infielder Hayato Sakamoto and catcher Takumi Oshiro, have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

This is the first case of professional baseball players in Japan having tested positive since Hanshin Tigers pitcher Shintaro Fujinami and two of his teammates were found with the coronavirus in March.

Sakamoto serves as the players' captain of the Giants, one of the six teams in Japan's Central League.

Following the confirmation of the two Giants players' infections, the day's training match between the Giants and the Saitama Seibu Lions, a team in the Pacific League, was canceled. The game was slated to start at 2 p.m. (5 a.m. GMT) at Tokyo Dome, the home ground of the Giants.

Both Sakamoto, 31, and Oshiro, 27, were on the Giants' starting roster in its practice game with the Lions held on Tuesday at the same ballpark in Tokyo without spectators.

The Giants said that the team conducted antibody tests for the novel coronavirus on willing club members in the three days through Sunday to check for past infections. Of the 218 people who took the test, Sakamoto, Oshiro and two staff members were found to have antibodies unique to the coronavirus.

Polymerase chain reaction tests were conducted Tuesday on the two players, and the team was informed of their infection statuses Wednesday morning.

The Nippon Professional Baseball Organization was originally scheduled to open this year's regular season on March 20. But the start has been postponed to June 19 due to the coronavirus outbreak.

While practice matches in the lead-up to the season start only began Tuesday, the latest revelation may affect the new opening schedule.

The Japanese sports world has seen a flurry of coronavirus infections. Gotoku Sakai, a player of Vissel Kobe, a team in the J1 top division of the Japan Professional Football League, or J.League, tested positive in March, while Mu Kanazaki, a player of Nagoya Grampus in the same tier, was found to carry the virus on Tuesday.

In May, Japanese professional sumo wrestler Shobushi, who was competing in the fourth-highest sandanme division, died of multiple organ failure from pneumonia caused by the novel coronavirus.

JIJI Press

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