Thirty COVID cases surface at SAI centres but Olympic-bound athletes safe
While 26 athletes and support staff have returned positive results for COVID-19 at NIS, Patiala, four have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Bengaluru.
As many as 30 athletes and support staff have tested positive for COVID-19 at the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centres in Patiala and Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Spread among various sportspersons across disciplines, the results returned positive following precautionary RT-PCR tests conducted at both the centres over the past few days.
A total of 313 and 428 members of the national sports centres were tested in Patiala and Bengaluru, respectively. While 26 of them tested positive in Patiala, four emerged in Bengaluru.
Fortunately for India’s Olympic aspirations, none of the Tokyo Games-bound athletes have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.
Some of the prominent names who have tested positive for COVID-19 include the men's boxing chief coach and Dronacharya awardee CA Kuttappa and shot put coach Mohinder Singh Dhillon, Asian boxing championships silver-medallist Deepak Kumar and India Open boxing gold-medallist Sanjeet.
“Keeping the safety of Olympic-bound athletes, coaches and support staff in mind, the Sports Authority of India conducted precautionary RT-PCR tests at the National Centre of Excellence in Patiala and Bengaluru,” an SAI statement read.
“The reports received today indicate that all Olympic-bound athletes at both centres are COVID negative. Those who have tested positive are being isolated in the residential facilities within the campus.”
The SAI centres in Patiala and Bengaluru are the primary training bases of Olympic-bound Indian athletes.
While the boxers, weightlifters and the majority of track and field athletes are housed at the National Institute of Sports in Patiala, the Indian hockey teams along with the long and middle-distance runners are at the Bengaluru centre.
This news comes hot on the heels of eight members of the Indian boxing team testing positive for COVID-19 a week back in Istanbul, Turkey where they had gone to compete at the Bosphorus boxing tournament.
Three boxers, including the Commonwealth Games gold medallist Gaurav Solanki, and other support staff had tested positive in Turkey.