India shuttlers to start training after clearing COVID-19 tests
New Delhi: The entire Indian badminton contingent cleared the COVID-19 test on Wednesday and is set to begin training ahead of the Yonex Thailand Open, starting next week.
The Indian team, part of the Green Zone, consisting of players and all stakeholders such as umpires, line judges, personnel from BWF, Badminton Association of Thailand, medical staff, and TV production crew, were tested after arrival in Bangkok.
The Asia leg in Bangkok consists of two Super 1000 events — Yonex Thailand Open (January 12-17) and Toyota Thailand Open (January 19-24) followed by the USD 1,500,000 HSBC BWF World Tour Finals (January 27-31).
“The Asian Leg in Bangkok received a boost with all 824 participants in the Green Zone quarantine bubble testing negative for COVID-19,” BWF said in a statement.
“Players are now cleared for training under strict safety protocols.”
The Indian team, comprising Olympic hopefuls PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal and B Sai Praneeth, have been allotted training timings. The players also had their first gym session in the afternoon.
“Indian Team will be resuming their training from today, the Gym timings allotted are from 2-3pm and the training time is 7-8PM,” BAI media tweeted.
The players will also now have access to physio in their rooms but they will have to take prior appointment as part of the protocols in place.
“The strict procedures allow athletes to see their physios in their rooms once practice commences. A special procedure/appointment is needed for any personnel leaving their room to visit the practice hall, or in the case of a physio, the athlete they treat.”
