India's doubles badminton star N Sikki Reddy has reportedly tested positive for the novel coronavirus, leading to the Pullela Gopichand academy shutting down for sanitisation.
The badminton national camp resumed from August 7 with eight athletes - PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Srikanth Kidambi, Ashwini Ponnappa, B Sai Praneeth,and Sikki Reddy.
Times of India reported on Thursday that according to their Sports Authority of India (SAI)sources, Sikki and physiotherapist C Kiran tested positive for Covid, following which the academy was closed down for sanitisation.
The training had resumed at the academy keeping with the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and the Standard Operating Procedure drawn up by SAI, alongside the state government's regulations.
To ensure complete safety of athletes and proper social distancing norms during the training, the academy was divided into colour zones wherein only athlete and coaches allowed to access the green zone, or the field of play, while there are different zones earmarked for support staff and administrative staff, who will have no access to the field of play.
Last Friday, Chirag Shetty and Satwiksairaj Rankireddy had said that will wait for another couple of weeks to decide whether they want to train at the academy.
Shetty said the coronavirus threat is real and he would not feel safe travelling at this point. Rankireddy is based closer to Hyderabad, which is just over 450km from his home town.
However, they will be happy with their decision as of now.
This is the second such major instance of coronavirus wrecking havoc in a national camp. Earlier, hockey camp was disrupted at SAI Bengaluru with six hockey players, including men's team captain Manpreet Singh, testing positive for the virus.
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