{"id":179145,"date":"2026-08-13T11:20:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T02:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/?post_type=news&#038;p=179145&#038;lang=en"},"modified":"2026-08-13T11:20:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T02:20:43","slug":"kyuden-voltex-player-dies-following-suspected-heatstroke","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/news\/kyuden-voltex-player-dies-following-suspected-heatstroke\/","title":{"rendered":"Kyuden Voltex Player Dies Following Suspected Heatstroke"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Kyushu Electric Power Kyuden Voltex player Saimoni Vunilangi died on August 7 after being hospitalized with suspected heatstroke following team training in Fukuoka. The 26-year-old Fijian began indoor weight training at 3 p.m. on August 3 before later taking part in outdoor running. He became unsteady near the end of the session, prompting staff to stop the exercise, cool him, and call an ambulance after his consciousness became impaired.<br \/>\nFukuoka recorded a high of 36.9\u00b0C that day, while conditions at 5 p.m. were 34.5\u00b0C with 65% humidity. Vunilangi had joined the Division 2 club this season after playing for Tokyo Suntory Sungoliath. Medical experts warned that high temperatures and humidity can remain dangerous even during evening exercise.<br \/>\nFukuoka Now extends its condolences to Vunilangi\u2019s family, friends, teammates, and all those who knew him. <strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/news.web.nhk\/newsweb\/na\/nb-5010034758\" target=\"_blank\">NHK News<\/a> \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/news.ntv.co.jp\/n\/fbs\/category\/society\/fsd2d1c6fd97e3439683e493205695e9be\" target=\"_blank\">FBS News<\/a><\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_kyuden-voltex-heatstroke_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1400%2C788&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" width=\"1400\" height=\"788\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-179146\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_kyuden-voltex-heatstroke_2026_cl.jpg?w=1400&amp;ssl=1 1400w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_kyuden-voltex-heatstroke_2026_cl.jpg?resize=300%2C169&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_kyuden-voltex-heatstroke_2026_cl.jpg?resize=1024%2C576&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/fnn_kyuden-voltex-heatstroke_2026_cl.jpg?resize=768%2C432&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><br \/>\nPhoto: FBS News<\/p>\n<p>Get Fukuoka and Kyushu\u2019s top stories delivered to your inbox. The Now is Fukuoka Now\u2019s free biweekly newsletter featuring local news, events, culture, business, and community updates in English. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/mailmagazine\/\">Subscribe to The Now<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Summaries based on public content, errors may occur during translation. Images credited independently. Send feedback using <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/en\/contact\/\">this <strong>form<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Kyushu Electric Power Kyuden Voltex player Saimoni Vunilangi died on August 7 after being hospitalized with suspected heatstroke following team training in Fukuoka. The 26-year&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30292,"featured_media":179146,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","tags":[],"class_list":["post-179145","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","location-fukuoka-prefecture","news-category-general","news-category-sports","en-US"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/179145","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30292"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179145"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/179146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fukuoka-now.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}