Saina Nehwal, HS Prannoy test positive for Covid 19 ahead of Thailand Open

The duo, along with the Indian team, was looking to participate in the Asia leg events comprising the Thailand Open (January 12-17), TOYOTA Thailand Open (January 19-24) and the HSBC BWF World Tour Finals 2020 (January 27-31).

“Saina and Prannoy tested positive for COVID-19 during a test conducted on Monday. They will stay in quarantine for 10 days in a Bangkok hospital. Kashyap too will have to head to the hospital as he is a close contact,” a source in the Badminton Association of India (BAI) said. While the trio will miss the tournament, the rest of the Indian team players have been allowed to participate in the event.

Saina, Prannoy, Kashyap alongwith RMV Gurusaidutt and Pranaav Chopra had tested positive last month and had served the mandatory quarantine period.

They had also cleared the pre-departure COVID-19 test and also tested negative on arrival in Bangkok. The Indian contingent includes the likes of Olympic silver-medallist PV Sindhu, Kidambi Srikanth, Sourabh Verma, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, Chirag Shetty and Ashwini Ponappa.

On the court, India made a winning start with mixed doubles pair of Satwik and Ashwini claiming a 21-11, 27-29, 21-16 win over the Indonesian pair of Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Widjaja.