PV Sindhu among 8 Olympic-bound athletes to attend badminton national camp

The badminton national camp for eight Olympic-bound athletes is set to begin at the Pullela Gopichand Badminton Academy in Hyderabad from Friday, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) has decided.

The decision was taken after clearance for the camp was received from the Telangana government on August 1 allowing resumption of sporting activities from August 5.

The eight athletes who will resume training at the academy include PV Sindhu, Saina Nehwal, Srikanth Kidambi, Ashwini Ponnappa, Sai Praneeth, Chirag Shetty, Satwiksairaj and N Sikki Reddy.

To ensure complete safety of athletes and proper social distancing norms during the training, the academy has been divided into colour zones wherein only athlete and coaches will be allowed to access the green zone or the field of play, while there are different zones earmarked for support staff and administrative staff who will have no access to the field of play.

The training will be conducted in keeping with the guidelines of the Ministry of Health and the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) drawn up by SAI, alongside the state government`s regulations.

Speaking about the resumption, national badminton coach Pullela Gopichand said, "I am very happy to have our elite shuttlers back for on-field training after this long break. We are fully equipped to resume training in a safe environment."