Saina Nehwal gets green light to play, after drama off-court

CHENNAI: Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday morning. By Tuesday night, both of them had been cleared to take part in the ongoing Thailand Open. A drama-filled day for the Indian contingent also included K Srikanth bleeding from the nose after a nasal swab gone wrong, PV Sindhu losing from a game up, Parupalli Kashyap still unsure of his place in the tournament after being expelled along with Saina early on Tuesday and the Indian team being categorised as ‘high risk’ by the World Badminton Federation (BWF).

Saina was in fact staring at a 10-day isolation at a local hospital. But all three of them, including Kashyap and Prannoy, underwent antibody tests later. As Saina and Prannoy tested positive, they were allowed back into the first meet of the Asian swing. While Saina’s name was on Wednesday’s schedule, Kashyap’s was missing. “Nehwal and Prannoy tested positive on the PCR test but their antibody IgG was positive. A positive antibody test means a person has been infected with the Covid-19 virus at some point in the past. It does not mean they  are currently infected.” the BWF stated in its  release.

Saina was far from pleased when she was told to isolate. “I still didn’t receive the Covid test report from yesterday (Monday) it’s very confusing and today  just before the warm up for the match they tell me to got to hospital in bangkok... saying that I’m positive...according to rules, the report should come in 5 hours..@bwfmedia,” she wrote on Twitter.

Even when that issue was threatening to derail the Indian contingent’s plans, Srikanth wasn’t a happy man. A nasal swab is unpleasant but it’s not supposed to draw blood.“We take care of ourselves for the match not to come and shed blood for THIS,” he wrote on his Twitter handle, @srikidambi. “However, I gave 4 tests after I have arrived and I can’t say any of them have been pleasant. Unacceptable.” 

The one saving grace is that Nehwal’s match has been rescheduled for Wednesday. Prannoy anyway wasn’t slated to play till Wednesday. B Sai Praneeth lost 16-21, 10-21 against local player Kantaphon Wangcharoen whereas Sindhu  forfeited one-game advantage to lose 21-16, 24-26, 13-21 against Mia Blichfeldt of Denmark. Ashwini Ponnappa had a mixed day as she won her mixed doubles contest along with Satwiksairaj Rankireddy. But she lost in women’s doubles with partner N Sikki Reddy.