Stranded Indian shuttlers return from Germany

Indian shuttlers stranded in Germany after a member of the group examined positive for Covid-19 returned house on Tuesday with all 5 members cleared to journey by authorities on testing adverse for the virus.

Defending champion Lakshya Sen, 2018 winner Subhankar Dey and Ajay Jayaram had been pressured to drag out of final week’s $90,000 SaarLorLux Open in Saarbrucken and go into quarantine after DK Sen, Lakshya’s father and coach, examined positive.

Local well being authorities had directed DK Sen to be in quarantine until November 6 and others, together with Lakshya’s physio Abhishek Wagh, had been requested to be in isolation until November 10. The gamers, particularly Jayaram and Dey, repeatedly requested the authorities to test and allow them to return to India if Covid adverse. They had been involved as Germany has began a recent lock down because of a spurt in positive instances.

“Once the results came and we were negative, we immediately booked our return flights on Monday,” DK Sen mentioned after touchdown along with his son and Wagh on a Frankfurt-Bengaluru flight early on Tuesday. Sen trains in Bengaluru beneath former nationwide coach Vimal Kumar on the Prakash Padukone academy.

Dey and Jayaram, who had been collectively in a unique lodge in Saarbrucken, took a flight to New Delhi. “After we tested negative the local health authorities informed us that we can go back,” mentioned Dey, who took a connecting flight to Bengaluru.

The Europe journey of Lakshya Sen, father and physio was funded by the sports activities ministry’s Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS). Jayaram and Dey, who had been on their very own, had sought help after event officers requested them to enter quarantine following Sen’s positive test. Sports Authority of India (SAI) mentioned it could bear their expenditures.

“The Indian shuttlers and support staff will be on seven days’ home quarantine now,” a Badminton Association of India (BAI) assertion mentioned on Tuesday.

All three gamers had featured within the Denmark Open. Sen then skilled on the Peter Gade academy whereas Dey and Jayaram had been based mostly in Vienna briefly earlier than all landed in Germany for the event. The Europe journey was their first because the pandemic had pressured competitions to be halted.