Saarland: The 19-year-old defending champion, Lakshya Sen, had to withdraw from the 2020 SaarLorLux Open, a BWF Tour Super 100 event in Saarbrucken, Germany, after his father, DK Sen, who was also his coach, was tested positive for Covid-19.
The second-seeded Sen was scheduled to play Howard Shu of the USA in the men’s singles second round on Wednesday, but instead, he provided a walkover to Shu.
As a precautionary measure, two other Indian players, including Ajay Jayaram and Subhankar Dey have also withdrawn.
“BWF can confirm three players have been withdrawn from the SaarLorLux Open 2020 as a precautionary measure for all participants after they were in contact with a member of their team entourage who tested positive for Covid-19,” said Badminton World Federation (BWF) in a statement released on Thursday.
“All three players and the team entourage have been placed into isolation in line with directives from tournament organisers, local health authorities and BWF tournament health protocols,” explained BWF.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) also published a statement in regard to this matter on Wednesday.
“Sen, 19, his coach Sen, and a physio arrived in Saarbrücken, Germany, for the tournament on October 25 and were advised to travel to Frankfurt for COVID testing,” said SAI.
“The reports were received on October 27 where Sen and his physio came COVID negative but his coach came positive [asymptomatic]. So as to not hamper the functioning of the tournament and jeopardise the other players, Sen has pulled out of the event and informed the organisers. Sen and his coach have requested for another COVID test in order to determine their return date to India,” added SAI.
BWF also confirmed the Coronavirus test results for Sen, Jayaram, and Dey have returned negative.
