Bangkok: Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal has been forced to withdraw from the Thailand Open after she reportedly tested positive for Covid-19.
According to reports, Saina returned positive in her third round of Covid-19 test on Monday. She was slated to take on Kisona Selvaduray of Malaysia in her opening round contest on Tuesday. While the news of her positive Covid-19 test has not been confirmed by the BWF, the official website of the Badminton World Federation did show the walkover result.
Saina last participated in the All England Open in March last year and Tuesday’s game was supposed to be her first since the outbreak of coronavirus.
This is not the first time that the ace Indian shuttler had contracted Covid-19. She had recovered only a few weeks ago when she and her husband Parupalli Kashyap had tested positive for coronavirus.
Apart from Saina, the Indian squad in Bangkok for the Thailand Open includes badminton world champion PV Sindhu and Olympic hopefuls Kidambi Srikanth and B Sai Praneeth.
The team also consists of star men’s doubles pair Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty, and doubles players Ashwini Ponappa and N. Sikki Reddy.
H.S. Prannoy, Parupalli Kashyap, Sameer Verma, Dhruv Kapila, and Manu Attri are the rest of the players in the team.
