Parupalli Kashyap, HS Prannoy among four badminton players to test COVID-positive

Indian badminton players Parupalli Kashyap, HS Prannoy, RMV Gurusai Dutt and Pranaav Jerry Chopra have tested positive for COVID-19. All of them are now in 14-day self-quarantine at their respective homes.

Kashyap, Prannoy and Chopra had attended the wedding of Gurusai Dutt in Hyderabad on November 25 and came in contact with a friend who later tested COVID-positive.

They then decided to get themselves tested despite being asymptomatic and the four men tested positive. The four are set to get another rapid test on Monday to check if they returned a false positive.

“There have been cases when a lot of time the first test result comes false positive, so the players have been advised by the doctors to wait and monitor a few days and take a second test on Monday,” a member of the Gopichand Academy told PTI.

London 2012 bronze-medallist Saina Nehwal, who also attended the wedding with husband Parupalli Kashyap, tested negative as did Gurusai Dutt’s wife Amulya Gullapalli.

Commonwealth Games gold medallists Kashyap, Prannoy and Chopra, a doubles specialist, were all training at the Pullela Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad and so, all other trainees at the academy were also tested.

Newlywed Gurusai Dutt had taken a break from training for his wedding.

In August, doubles specialist Satwiksairaj Rankireddy had tested COVID-positive, which prevented him from travelling for the Thomas Cup in Denmark. The team event was later called off after several countries pulled out and Rankireddy has since returned to training.

In October, Indian badminton player Lakshya Sen’s father and coach DK Sen had tested COVID-positive, leading Lakshya to abandon his title defence of the SaarLorLux Open in Germany.

As a result, fellow shuttlers Ajay Jayaram and 2018 SaarLorLux champion Subhankar Dey were also forced to pull out of the BWF Super 100 event, having travelled together with Lakshya and his father.