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Indian badminton player Lakshya Sen has decided to withdraw out of the SaarLorLux Open scheduled in Germany after his coach tested positive for COVID-19.
Sen, who is the defending champion at the BWF Super 100 event held in Saarbrucken, Germany had arrived earlier this week.
He was advised to travel to Frankfurt and get the necessary COVID-19 testing procedures done, along with his coach and physiotherapist.
The tests reports were received on October 27 and confirmed that Lakshya and his physiotherapist tested negative but his coach tested positive for COVID-19.
Though he is asymptomatic, in order to not hinder the preparations underway for the tournament in Germany, Sen made the decision to withdraw from the competition after informing the organizers.
Lakshya Sen had recently competed in the Denmark Open event
Lakshya Sen was one of the few Indian shuttlers who had participated in the Denmark Open, which marked the return of international badminton on the BWF calendar.
After winning his first round match against Frenchman Christo Popov, the 19-year old Sen bowed out of the Denmark Open in the next fixture against Denmark's Hans-Kristian Solberg Vittinghus.
Sen went on to train at the Peter Gade Academy for a week to keep himself in shape and defend his title in Saarbrucken.
He was in the bottom half of the draw and had been granted a bye in the opening round of the tournament. However, now that he has pulled out of the tournament, Sen and his team requested to take the tests again, before they plan their return to India.
Sports Authority of India (SAI) had funded Lakshya Sen's participation in both the SaarLorLux Open and Denmark Open as well as the training at Peter Gade Academy under the TOPS program.
The other Indian shuttlers who will be competing at the SaarLorLux Open are Ajay Jayaram, Subhankar Dey and Malvika Bansod.
