Hot, hotter and hottest: An uncomfortable truth

Rising global temperatures are pushing more and more sportspersons over the edge

Snoopy, the affable pet beagle in Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip Peanuts, is not known to appear on a tennis court often. It did at the 2014 Australian Open, or that is what Frank Dancevic saw during a first round match. The next moment, the Canadian player collapsed.

Dancevic was hallucinating, a common occurrence in dehydrating conditions. With temperature soaring over 42 degrees Celsius, the 2014 Australian Open offered one of the most sweltering experiences ever; ‘inhumane’ according to Dancevic. Nine players pulled out in the first round, equalling a Grand Slam Openera record.

Cut to 2018 US Open. For the first time in history of the tournament, an ‘extreme heat policy’ was implemented in men’s matches as temperature hovered around 40°C and the humidity over 50 per cent. “Arthur Ashe Stadium feels like a sauna,” said Novak Djokovic.

As global temperature rises at a rate faster than ever before, tennis is not the only sport to be affected. The 2014 Fifa World Cup in Brazil saw three-minute cooling breaks for the first time. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be played in November-december, again a first for the quadrennial showpiece.

Cricket is not unaffected either. In January, England’s Joe Root had to be taken to hospital during the final Ashes Test in Sydney, when temperatures in Sydney reached 42°C. Recently, India shortened a warm-up game to three days because of the prevailing heat wave in England.

Global warming is real as is the ordeal professional sportspersons go through day in and day out.

HOW THE BODY REACTS

To understand the complications, one needs to know how the body reacts when exposed to heat. As the athletes play in extreme conditions over a sustained period of time, the core temperature of the body rises and it produces sweat as part of the internal cooling mechanism.

“The normal body temperature is 37°C, and at 40°C heat illness/exhaustion starts to set in. If the body temperature reaches 45°C, protein breakdown starts to happen,” said Badrinath Prathi, head sports physiotherapist at the Delhi and District Cricket Association.

Also, with increased sweat production come weight and electrolyte loss. “Measuring someone’s weight is one mechanism but it’s not the most accurate for predicting fluid loss. If athletes are too dehydrated, their performances will suffer and the injury rate will go up. Also, their concentration diminishes significantly. It’s also required to monitor them throughout a day’s play,” said former India cricket team physio John Gloster.

In extreme cases, heatstroke occurs when the body can no longer cool itself and starts to overheat. If left untreated, organ failure and brain damage can also take place. “Heat-related illness can happen in any form of sport in a certain environment which has high ambient temperature and the humidity is high. There are different heat related illnesses which an athlete suffers. A less serious one would be exercise related collapse, muscle cramps. Then, heat exertion can happen in athletes with low blood pressure which can lead to further cardio-vascular problems. The extreme case is heat stroke,” said Digpal Ranawat, who worked with Abhinav Bindra during the 2016 Rio Olympics and is also the performance director at Bindra’s Targeting Performance Centre.

Tennis player Prajnesh Gunneswaran suffered so many attacks of cramps during his Asian Games quarter-final match against Soon Woo Kwon of Korea that he could barely move. Luckily, it started raining and Prajnesh got a break of 30 minutes. Team physio Anand Dubey immediately provided him with fluids, nourishment and massage. On resumption, Prajnesh won the match to ensure India a bronze medal.

STRESS ADDS TO IT

For sportspersons who are expected to have above-average physical fitness, complications occur not only due to the conditions but also because of stress. Inadequate hydration and poor training regime can maximise the effect of the outside temperature.

Add to it the fact that the in-stadium temperature is often more than prevalent temperature outside — when Root collapsed, temperatures in the middle of the Sydney Cricket Ground was around 57° C. Low air circulation due to enclosed high stands, heat radiated from synthetic surfaces (such as at the US Open or Australian Open) adds to the challenges for athletes. In some countries, pollution contributes to hazardous conditions. Also, the absence of data on heat related illness in the lower leagues or divisions adds to the danger that sportspersons suffer.

(with inputs from Avishek Roy, B. Shrikant, Bhargab Sarmah, Bihan Sengupta, Navneet Singh, Robin Bose, Saurabh Duggal, Sharad Deep & Somshuvra Laha)