Saina Nehwal, HS Prannoy test positive for coronavirus

Ace badminton players Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy have tested positive for coronavirus. Saina and Prannoy are in Thailand for the Yonex Thailand Open, and according to reports, will withdraw from the tournament. The Indian Express reported that fellow shuttler and Saina's husband P Kashyap, a close contact, has been asked to quarantine. According to reports, Saina tested negative in the first two COVID-19 tests, but tested positive in the third test she took on Monday.

In a statement, Badminton Association of India confirmed the two have tested positive and have been quarantined. "Both players have been withdrawn from the tournament and have to be isolated in hospital for a minimum 10 days. BAI is in constant touch with BWF, Team Management, Players and Organizers," the association said in a tweet on Tuesday.

This is the second time that Saina has tested positive for the virus. Earlier, in December, after attending a wedding, Saina and Parupalli Kashyap had tested positive.

The Indian badminton squad had left for Thailand on January 3 to compete in two back-to-back BWF World Tour Super 1000 tournaments and the BWF World Tour Finals. The team included Olympic hopefuls Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth as well, while world champion PV Sindhu was to fly in from England, where she has been training since October.

The first Thailand Open will be held from January 12 to 17 while the second is scheduled for January 19 to 24. The World Tour Finals then starts on January 27 and will end on January 31. While Srikanth competed in the Denmark Super 750 in October, it was to be a first tournament since the coronavirus-induced break for the rest of the players in the squad.

Earlier, former world no.1 Saina Nehwal had asked the BWF to intervene, saying that physios and trainers cannot meet players during the entire tour even after everyone had tested negative. However, the rules that have been put in place by the BWF and BAT stated that it was only for the first three days that players could not meet their support staff until the start of the training period.

With IANS inputs