CHENNAI: Olympic-bound wrestler Deepak Punia (86 kg) along with two others tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. The wrestlers had converged at the SAI Centre in Sonepat for the national camp, which began on Tuesday. The other two are Navin (65 kg) and Krishnan (125 kg). After hockey players and shuttlers, wrestlers are another lot of elite athletes to test positive for the virus at different SAI centres during national camps.
"As per protocol, all wrestlers along with the coaches and support staff were made to undergo mandatory RT-PCR tests for COVID-19. During the test, wrestlers Deepak Punia, Navin and Krishan were found positive and have been moved to an SAI empanelled hospital as a precautionary measure and for further monitoring," read an SAI statement.
Deepak made the Olympic cut by settling for silver in the World Championships held in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan, last year. Bajrang Punia (65 kg), Ravi Dahiya (57 kg) and Vinesh Phogat (53 kg) were the other Indian wrestlers to qualify for the Tokyo Games by winning medals in the Worlds.
The latest development means Deepak has become the second Tokyo-bound Indian wrestler to return a positive test. Vinesh tested positive ahead of the National Sports Awards ceremony. She, however, has tested negative twice since then.
The Sports Authority of India (SAI) resumed the camp for freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestlers at Sonepat Centre on Tuesday. As many as 17 freestyle and nine GR wrestlers were named in the list for the camp. Two foreign coaches including Bajrang's Georgian coach Shako Bentinidis and his compatriot Temo Kazarashvili (GR) are also part of the camp apart from Indian coaches.
Last month, six players from the national men's hockey team tested positive ahead of the camp at SAI Bengaluru. They were captain Manpreet Singh, Surender Kumar, Jaskaran Singh, Varun Kumar, Krishan Bahadur Pathak (goalkeeper) and Mandeep Singh.