It has been reported that the father, as well as the coach of the defending champion Lakshya Sen, has been tested positive for the Corona Virus and as a result, the entire team of Indian players have unfortunately withdrawn their names from the SaarLorLux Open.
The second round of matches was scheduled to take place on Wednesday where Subhankar Dey and Ajay Jayaram were ready to compete. Unfortunately due to the unpredictable circumstances the duo also has withdrawn their names.
As a precautionary measure already 3 players have withdrawn according to the World Badminton Federation (BWF).
According to a release by BWF on Thursday, it is confirmed that the three players who have withdrawn from the tournament are Lakshya Sen, Ajay Jayaram, and Subhankar Dey. All the three players along with their team have been kept in isolation but the fact that all the three players have tested negative and are now in a proper health condition with no difficulties.
The lone women’s singles shuttler Malvika Bansod lost to Kristin Kuuba of Estonia 12-21, 19-21, this happened earlier on Wednesday. After his father and coach DK Sen was found positive Lakshya pulled out. However, Ajay and Subhankar were expected to fiddle 12.30 am on Thursday before they too had withdrawn. Jayaram, in fact, won his first-round match on Tuesday and had to require on third seed Mark Caljouw of Netherlands while Subhankar had to face Canadian Brian Yang in the second round.
As his coach tested positive, unfortunately. He felt the need to isolate himself as he was in close contact with the coach- Defending champion, Lakshya was disappointed with the developments at the SaarLorLux Open. I am the defending champion of this event and I’m very disappointed and sad about this development. Under the circumstances, I don’t want to jeopardise the security of other players and hamper the functioning of the tournament. Lakshya wrote to the organising secretary of the SaarLorLux Open- I request you to kindly grant me permission to withdraw my entry,