A 17-year-old high school boy in Osaka hanged himself after being physically punished by his basketball coach in late December, the Osaka municipal board of education said Tuesday, noting abuses attributed to the same coach two years ago were denied by the school but may have been frequent.
A questionnaire carried out on students at Sakuranomiya Senior High School after the Dec. 23 suicide found that most of the victim's teammates saw the 47-year-old coach physically punish their colleagues and many were abused as well.
The unidentified coach, who has also been described as an adviser, admitted punishing the boy and apologized to his family, the board said.