Ace India shuttlers B Sai Praneeth and compatriot Dhruv Rawat have pulled out of the upcoming India Open badminton tournament, starting January 11 at the KD Jadhav Indoor Hall at the Indira Gandhi Stadium in New Delhi, after testing positive for Covid-19.
Issuing a statement, the Badminton Association of India (BAI) said: “Their (Praneeth and Dhruv) RTPCR test before travelling for Delhi has come positive.”
Earlier on Sunday, the BAI also announced that England’s team has withdrawn from the upcoming event after the country’s doubles specialist Sean Vendy and coach Nathan Robertson tested positive for the Covid-19 before arriving in India.
“Entire @BadmintonEnglnd team had withdrawn two days back and they are not here in India. #YonexSunriseIndiaOpen2022 is on track and all players who were tested at the hotel this morning as per protocol have come negative,” the BAI said in a tweet.
Significantly, as the third wave of the pandemic is taking the world in its grip with the number of positive cases on a spike, the badminton federation said that it will not compromise on the safety of the players as well as others involved, and will be following all the Covid-19 guidelines as dirceted by the government.
“All the participating players will be taking the necessary safety precautions right from their arrival in New Delhi as per protocol and will be tested every day at the hotel and from there they will be having shuttle buses to come to the stadium, play matches, and go back to the hotel again,” the BAI said.
“All the players as well as match officials, BWF and BAI officials, support staff, vendors, and others involved will have to go through a mandatory Covid test each day outside the stadium, and only after being tested negative they will be allowed inside the venue,” it added.
Notably, the 10th edition of the Indian Open, which is being held held after a gap of two years due to global pandemic, will witness shuttlers from 19 countries. The event will feature as many as five categories.
Meanwhile, due to the third wave of the panemic, the entire tournament will be held behind closed doors.
Notably, the Indian Open badmint tournament is a USD 400,000 prize money Super 500 event and the upcoming season will also kickstart the 2022 BWF World Tour season.