More research needed on air quality index, says Dr Peter Larkins

He feels there stills needs to be a lot more work done before the air quality index can be used with any certainty.

Tennis Australia has finally made its air quality policy known - although a detailed version of it can't be found on their or the Australian Open websites.

They'll stop play when the AQI reaches 200, but begin to consider doing so when it reaches 97.

It comes after play was delayed for the Australian Open qualifying matches last week due to the poor air quality in Melbourne.

Smoke from the bushfires has been causing havoc for Australian sport, with matches in Canberra cancelled as a result.

It's also proving a problem in Victoria, which has forced Tennis Australia to develop a policy.

Initially, they kept it a secret, causing frustration among the players.

Larkins said not enough was known about the effects of air quality yet to use the AQI with any certainty and effects were largely individualised.

This was highlighted by Dalila Jakupovic, who was forced to withdraw from Australian Open qualifying after suffering a coughing fit while leading her match.

The AIS released figures saying athletes shouldn't train outside if the AQI reaches 150, but haven't released any guidelines in regards to competing.

"I don't know that you can just go by numbers," Larkins said.

"There might be some sort of formula, but I don't think I've seen enough research done on that compared to say the number that goes with the temperature and humidity for heat stress for people doing tennis or marathon or cricket.

"That's so well researched for decades ... but the air pollution stuff is something we don't have to talk about too often. We talked about it in Beijing in 2008.

"You can't acclimatise to it ... you don't go to an air-pollution chamber and train the same way you hear about teams going to heat training."

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Baseball Australia produced the first policy after a game was postponed and an entire series was cancelled in Canberra.

They liaised with Cricket Australia, who had to cancel a Big Bash League game at Manuka Oval.

Baseball Australia operations manager Michael Crooks said there was very little information around.

They opted to stop games when the AQI reached 300 - the figure used at the Beijing Olympic Games - and reduce the number of innings by two if it reached 200.

Crooks admitted the figures were largely discretionary because of the lack of knowledge.

"It is arbitrary. There's very little research, especially in Australia, into what that precise figure should be for athlete populations," he said.

"We respect other sports' positions on what they deem unfit conditions."