A Chinese woman jumped to her death after quarrelling with her boyfriend about the FIFA World Cup while another suffered a miscarriage while celebrating a goal for Germany as soccer fever gripped China.
These are some incidents reported in the country as Chinese have been burning the midnight oil to watch games broadcast from midnight to 6 am local time.
The 22-year-old woman leaped from the nine-storey building in the early hours yesterday after arguing with her boyfriend, who had just come home from watching a game, the Dalian Wanbao, a Liaoning province newspaper, reported.
She was rushed to hospital and pronounced dead due to severe injuries.
In Chongqing, a woman who stayed up late watching the World Cup games four nights in a row suffered a miscarriage while celebrating a goal for Germany, the Hong-Kong based South China Morning Post reported.
The 26-year-old from Nanan district, screamed "hat trick!" and jumped up and down on the couch when Thomas Mueller scored in the 79th minute, leading to the German side's 4-0 thrashing of Portugal.
But then she felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen and saw blood dripping down her legs. She was rushed to hospital.
In Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province, a man slipped into a coma after staying up too late for the games, which are broadcast live from Brazil from midnight to early morning in China.
Doctors said the 45-year-old from the Wuchang district, rushed to hospital at 4pm on Monday, had suffered severe brain haemorrhage after the all-nighters, according to the Changjiang Daily.
The man reportedly fell unconscious and foamed at the mouth during a driving lesson.
After seven hours of surgery, the man survived but a long rehabilitation awaits him.
Meanwhile, in Suzhou, a 25-year-old man was found dead in his room, with the World Cup playing on his computer, on Monday, the daily reported.
And last Friday, two friends enjoying spicy food and beer while animatedly discussing the World Cup suddenly came down with acute gastroenteritis (stomach flu) and had to be sent to hospital.
Hundreds of millions of Chinese fans tune into the World Cup, held every four years.
However, the this year championship's schedule has been a pain for fans - especially those who have to work in the morning - as the matches happen several time zones away.
The Chinese national team, founded in 1924, has only qualified for the World Cup once, in 2002 considered one of the nation's greatest achievements.
