Thailand Open: Saina Nehwal tests positive for COVID-19, HS Prannoy gets conflicting results
The top Indians players are currently participating in the BWF Thailand Open. It is the first big tournament for BWF in the prevailing pandemic era. However, the competition is off to a shocking start, as Saina Nehwal has been tested positive for COVID-19.
FollowAce Indian shuttler, Saina Nehwal has tested positive for COVID-19 during her ongoing tenure in the Thailand Open. Besides her, HS Prannoy is also on the verge of missing out, owing to conflicting results in his test.
According to an official statement by the Badminton World Federation (BWF), four players have tested positive for the tests conducted on Monday. Besides the two Indians, the others happen to be from Germany and Egypt.
“Upon retesting the same specimens, one player from India, and both players from Germany and Egypt were found to be negative. These three players will be tested again today. One Indian player remains positive and is in isolation for a minimum of 10 days at the hospital. That person will be tested again today also. The match involving this player was declared a walkover,” read the BWF statement.
“Today’s match featuring the roommate of this player has also been declared a walkover. That player is in self-quarantine and also subject to another test today. BWF and Badminton Association of Thailand will continue to follow all protocols outlined by the local health authorities to ensure the safety of all other participants,” the statement added.
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Thai health authorities have urged the entire Indian contingent to self-quarantine at the moment in the hotel, while PCR tests would be conducted in the meantime. Every player is scheduled to undergo daily testing and can only play upon earning a negative result, as per the Department of Disease Control’s instructions. However, the Indians expected to play on Tuesday would be allowed to do so without their coaches, managers or other personnel.
Meanwhile, Saina vented her frustration at the result, besides stating that she is yet to receive her test results on Monday. “I still didn’t receive the covid test report from yesterday it’s very confusing and today just before the warm-up for the match they tell me to got to hospital in Bangkok ... saying that I m positive ..according to rules the report should come in 5 hours.. @bwfmedia,” she said in a tweet.
Also, Parupalli Kashyap questioned BWF’s decision not to have the matches rescheduled for the false-positive tests. “Why no chance of rescheduling the match if false positive ?” he tweeted, as it was retweeted by Prannoy too.
The entire Indian contingent had undergone a test for the same pre-departure that came out negative and following their arrival in Bangkok. The Indians consist of players like PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Sourabh Verma, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty and Ashwini Ponappa.
