Thailand Open: Saina Nehwal and the entire Indian contingent test negative for Covid-19
Ace shuttlers like PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, P Kashyap are all set to participate in Thailand Open
Indian badminton players along with all other participants of the Thailand Open have tested negative for Covid-19 before they entered in the Green Zone quarantine bubble. 824 participants from across the world have travelled to Bangkok to take part in the competition.
The Green Zone has been conceptualised especially for the players and all stakeholders who are going to be in direct contact with them including umpires, line judges, personnel from Badminton World Federation (BWF), Badminton Association of Thailand, medical staff, and TV production crew.
"All international Green Zone participants were required to submit a negative in their own country before departure to Bangkok and were then tested again in Bangkok upon entry into hotel quarantine," BWF said in a statement.
After testing negative all players have been cleared for training. But, everyone must follow strict safety protocols. Moreover, quarantine measures will be implemented during the 14-day observation period.
"More routine COVID-19 tests will follow with strict safety protocols to remain in place until the end of the Asian Leg, which concludes with the completion of the BWF World Tour Finals on January 31," the statement added.
Trainers and physios have also been barred from meeting the players. However, Nehwal has requested the BWF to look into this matter as it can affect the performance of players on the court.
The two Super 1000 events — Yonex Thailand Open and Toyota Thailand Open are set to kick off from January 12 and January 19 respectively.
Apart from the big names in Saina Nehwal, Parupalli Kashyap, HS Prannoy shuttlers like, Sameer Verma, Dhruv Kapila, Manu Attri were among others who left for Bangkok from Hyderabad via Dubai on Saturday. PV Sindhu joined in at Dubai from London.
Olympic-ticket winners, men's pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and Ashwini Ponappa and N Sikki Reddy have also travelled.
However, promising youngster Lakshya Sen will miss out on the events as he is recovering from an injury.