Italy makes defibrillators compulsory for sporting firms

Rome, April 27 (IANS) Italy's government has ruled that all sporting companies, regardless of whether they are amateur or professional, must own a defibrillator.

Professional companies will have to comply within six months, and amateur ones within 30 months, it ruled Friday, reports Xinhua.

Defibrillators will have to always be accessible and used in the presence of qualified personnel, it said.

Italy's sports world had pledged to act to avoid more deaths like that of popular Livorno player Piermario Morosini, who died last year at the age of 25 after collapsing during a second-tier football game.

Morosini's death, which followed a number of similar fatalities, caused shock throughout the world of sport and aroused debate about whether enough was being done to prevent loss of life in sport.