All England Open Championships: Three Indian shuttlers return negative COVID-19 tests; start delayed due to ‘inconclusive’ results

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Three members of the Indian contingent at the All England Open Championships had tested positive for COVID-19 earlier but then a subsequent test revealed that it was all negative. They are singles players HS Prannoy and Sameer Verma as well as mixed doubles player Pranaav Jerry Chopra. Further, manager G Srinivas had also returned a positive result. The reports have not been sent formally but the same has been conveyed verbally to the Indian contingent.

“None of them have got their reports, they have all been told verbally,” a Badminton Association of India (BAI) reportedly told IANS. “No one have got their reports and all members of the Indian contingent have had to stay in their rooms, in accordance with the protocol,” the official added.

Inconclusive test results lead to delayed start

Meanwhile, some of the test results have returned an ‘inconclusive’ result according to the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and due to the same reason, the start of play for Wednesday has been delayed by a few hours.

“The Badminton World Federation (BWF) and Badminton England can confirm that a significant number of COVID-19 tests conducted for participating teams at the YONEX All England Open Badminton Championships 2021 were deemed ‘inconclusive’ and as a result, the samples will be rerun. BWF can also confirm that a small number of positive tests were recorded, and in agreement with Public Health England, these cases will be retested. These cases will continue to self-isolate while they are retested. As a result, play will now commence at 2pm tomorrow,” an official statement read.

“Badminton England and the BWF continue to implement all testing protocols required by the UK Government and Public Health England to ensure the health and safety of all participants,” BWF added.

India haven’t had a lot of success at the All England Championships ever since the legendary Pullela Gopichand won gold in 2001. However this time around, the Indian shuttlers would fancy their chances of winning due to a plethora of ace shuttlers missing from the event.

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