Saina Nehwal, HS Prannoy test positive for Covid-19, withdraw from Thailand Open

Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy have withdrawn from the Thailand Open after testing positive for Covid-19.

"Two Indian players, Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy, have tested positive for Covid-19. Both players have withdrawn from the tournament and have been isolated in a hospital for a minimum of 10 days," the Badminton Association of India (BAI) confirmed on their official Twitter handle.

"BAI is in constant touch with BWF, team management, players and organiser," it added.

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 who has now been given a walkover.

Prannoy, on the other hand, was slated to take on Malaysia's Lee Zii Jia in his opening round contest.

This is the second time that Saina and Prannoy have tested positive for Covid-19. Last month along with Parupalli Kashyap, the players had tested positive during Gurusaidutt's wedding in Hyderabad. All of them served quarantine period and tested negative for Covid-19 before arriving in Bangkok.

Saina, 30, had recently raised concerns over the fitness of the athletes after physios and trainers were restricted from meeting the badminton players during the entirety of their Thailand tour. However, the rules that have been put in place by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) and Badminton Association of Thailand (BAT)  stated that it was only for the first three days that players could not meet their support staff until the start of the training period.

The Olympic medallist 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.