KUALA LUMPUR, April 27 — The national shuttlers will resume training today — more than a week after 15 individuals had tested positive for Covid-19 at the Academy Badminton Malaysia (ABM) in Bukit Kiara.
The Badminton Association of Malaysia (BAM), in a statement yesterday, confirmed that the Ministry of Health (MOH) had given them the green light to resume training.
“A quarantine-based approach to training, with strict compliance of the standard operating procedure (SOP), is set to be carried out at the national badminton centre of excellence. It will allow our athletes to return to court in a safe and controlled environment as per the directives by health authorities,” the statement read.
BAM also thanked the MOH, Ministry of Youth and Sports, National Sports Council and the National Sports Institute for the hard work put in to ensure the immediate resumption of their training programme.
Six players at the ABM tested positive for Covid-19 on April 17. On April 23, the BAM announced that eight more backup shuttlers had tested positive during a screening on April 20, while one more player fell victim last Saturday (April 24).
Meanwhile, BAM secretary-general Datuk Kenny Goh, when contacted, said the first batch of six infected players had been discharged from the Covid-19 Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centre at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) and returned to their respective hometowns.
The national badminton squad are preparing for the Tokyo Olympics in July, as well as other tournaments to earn points towards qualifying for the Games, namely the Malaysian Open (May 25-30) and the Singapore Open (June 1-6).
— Bernama
