Parupalli Kashyap sheds light on Saina Nehwal Covid-19 positive case at Thailand Open 2021

Team India's potential podium finish results from the ongoing BWF tournaments in Thailand were confronted with a rude shock as some members of the squad tested positive for the Coronavirus. Indian shuttler Parupalli Kashyap took to social media early on Tuesday, January 12 to call out the Badminton World Federation on their mishandling of the COVID-19 testing and reporting situation at the ongoing YONEX Thailand Open 2021. This is a huge jolt to the BWF which is hosting its first tournament in almost a year.

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Parupalli Kashyap, Saina Nehwal Covid-19 scare at Thailand Open 2021

In his video, posted at around 2 PM IST on January 12, Parupalli Kashyap provided an update on the Saina Nehwal Covid-19 situation. Calling the situation "confusing", the Arjuna Awardee said that he and his wife, Saina Nehwal had been withdrawn from the ongoing tournament after she returned a positive test on Day 1 of the series. Kashyap and Nehwal had already contracted the Coronavirus during the wedding of international shuttler RMV Gurusaidutt about two months ago.

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Under the circumstances, Kashyap said that he felt it was a bit extreme to simply hand their competitors walkovers, as the tests could easily be false positives. He also criticised the mismanagement by the authorities who failed to inform Nehwal that she was positive until just a few minutes before her match - which was an entire day after the 3rd and final test was performed on them. He also informed everyone that the Badminton Federation of India was in talks with the BWF to try and reschedule the matches in case the tests turned out to be false positives. 

Along with the couple, another Indian shuttler HS Prannoy also tested positive and was taken to a hospital in Bangkok to serve out his isolation period. However, according to recent reports, it is now being reported that Saina's test was indeed a false positive - a consequence of the dead protein remaining in her body. This is also why her previous tests were negative but one suddenly turned out to be positive and caused all the hullabaloo. While there has been no official statement from the BAI yet, it seems like Nehwal, Kashyap and Prannoy will all play their Round 1 matches on Wednesday, January 13. 

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Thailand Open fixtures and results 

Apart from Team India's two positive coronavirus results, the rest of the contingent tested negative and were allowed to go on in the tournament. Day 1 of the tournament saw India come out with mixed results. While Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Ashwini Ponnappa recorded a win over Indonesia's Hafiz Faizal and Gloria Widjaja, Olympian PV Sindhu and the women's doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy bowled out after going down to Denmark's Mia Blichfeldt and South Korean pair of Kim So Yeong and Kong Hee Yong respectively. 

Also Read | Saina Nehwal Claims To Have NOT Received COVID-19 Report, Told To Isolate In Hospital

Image Credits: AP