Indian hockey captain Manpreet Singh, 4 other players test positive for coronavirus

The players tested negative in the rapid antigen test but after two of them displayed COVID-19 symptoms, their RT-PCR test results returned positive.
Indian hockey captain Manpreet Singh, 4 other players test positive for coronavirus
Indian hockey captain Manpreet Singh, 4 other players test positive for coronavirus
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The Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Friday said that Indian hockey team captain Manpreet Singh and three other players have tested positive for the coronavirus. The three others are Surender Kumar, Jaskaran Singh and Varun Kumar, and the players were tested when they reported for the national hockey camp in Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) National Centre of Excellence (NCOE) in Bengaluru after a break at home.

According to PTI reports, a fifth player Krishan Bahadur Pathak, has also tested positive for the virus.  

"This was revealed since as a proactive step, SAI made it mandatory for all athletes who reported back to the camp to take a rapid Covid 19 test upon arrival. Since all the athletes who tested positive had travelled together, there is a high likelihood that they contracted the virus while travelling from their hometowns to Bengaluru," SAI said in a press statement.

Interestingly, all four tested negative in the rapid antigen test. But since Manpreet and Surender showed COVID-19 symptoms, the athletes were subjected to a RT-PCR test on Thursday and the results of the athletes returned positive. 

"All athletes, including Manpreet, who reported to camp were undergoing quarantine as per the Health Ministry guidelines and as a precautionary measure were kept in isolation to arrest the possibility of transmission of the virus. The quarantined athletes did not interact with other athletes who were already present at the camp," the statement added.

"I am self quarantined on the SAI campus and I am very happy with the way SAI authorities have handled the situation. I am very happy that they made the testing of athletes mandatory. That proactive step helped in identifying the problem right in time. I am doing fine and hope to recover very soon,” Manpreet said.    

The national players were earlier stranded at the centre for over two months (till June) when a national lockdown was imposed to contain the virus.

According to the SAI source, all the players who have tested positive were part of a 10-member group who had travelled together and there are chances of more positive results coming out. However, the national camp will continue as scheduled with the players who are fit taking part in training. 

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