New Delhi: Olympic medal winning shuttler Saina Nehwal expressed shock after reports emerged that a Taiwanese shuttler, who was in Birmingham during the All England Championship, tested positive for the COVID-19.
Former top 10 player HK Vittinghus of Denmark on Friday shared a Taiwanese media report that a 10-year-old shuttler, who was at the All England Championship, was diagnosed positive for COVID-19.
Reports said that the teenager was a sparring partner of Taiwanese badminton team and he is believed to have travelled in the team bus between hotel and the arena during the All England Championship.
Parupalli Kashyap and Ajay Jayaram also expressed concern at the report.
Indian shuttlers, including HS Prannoy and world no. 10 Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj Rankireddy, had pulled out of the All England Open championship owing to the coronavirus outbreak.
Verma brothers -- Sourabh and Sameer - are the other men's singles players who withdrew, while men's doubles pair of Manu Attri and Sumeeth Reddy had also opted out.
Players, including Saina,Kashyap and Ashwini Ponnappa, had later slammed the Badminton World Federation (BWF) for continuing the Championship, saying their safety was compromised for financial gains.
Chief national coach Pullela Gopichand had also said it was wrong on BWF's part to put the players at risk. All the India players returning from Birmingham are currently in self isolation.
