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Indian players locked in hotel rooms, denied basic needs at Brisbane

By
Harshit
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India vs Australia, Gabba test,

The Indian cricket team landed in Brisbane for the fourth Test against Australia after the heroics of the Sydney Test match.

Indian team has reportedly complained to Cricket Australia about several aspects of the Brisbane bio-bubble where Rahane and company were locked in the hotel rooms and denied for the basic needs.

According to sources the team members were denied to use lifts and were asked to use stairs to reach the 28th floor for hotel rooms, players were also asked to clean their rooms and no house-keeping facilities were provided to them.

However, BCCI promptly intervened and took the matter up with Cricket Australia and as of now, the players have been assured that all the promised facilities will be extended to the team.

In Delhi AQI rises to 301, air quality turns ‘poor’

By
Neha Kumari
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As per the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research, Delhi’s air quality turned ‘very poor’ with overall air quality index (AQI) standing at 301.

According to SAFAR estimates updated at 6 am, several areas in the national capital including Delhi University, Mathura Road and Indira Gandhi International Airport (Terminal-3) recorded air quality in the very poor category with an AQI of 310, 315, 325 respectively.

According to SAFAR, AQI between the range of 51 and 100 is considered as ‘satisfactory’ or ‘very good’, 101-200 is ‘moderate’, 201-300 falls under the category of ‘poor’. While 300-400 is considered as ‘very poor’, levels between 401-500 fall under the ‘hazardous’ category.

At the same time, according to the Air Quality Bulletin issued by the Central Pollution Control Board, Delhi’s air index was recorded at 293 on Tuesday. It was 243 on Monday. Among the NCR cities, Faridabad recorded an air index of 260, Ghaziabad 324, Greater Noida 213, Gurugram 213 and Noida 278. Except in Ghaziabad, the air was in poor category. The PM2.5 level in Delhi air was recorded at 121 pm, 121 micrograms per cubic meter, while the PM10 level was recorded at 198 micrograms per cubic meter. It should be known that it should not exceed 60 and 100 respectively.

On the other hand, according to SAFAR India, an air quality monitoring organization under the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences, there is no scope for improvement in pollution for the next two-three days. Due to low temperature and freezing in the air, pollutants will not be able to fly. In such a situation, the air index is expected to remain in a very poor category. In such a situation, the elderly, children and sick people need to be cautious.

Happy Lohri- Know the history and significance of Lohri festival

By
Neha Kumari
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The festival of Lohri is celebrated on the last night of Paush month according to the Hindu calendar. Lohri has special significance for Sikhs. Preparations start a few days before the festival. It is popular to celebrate this festival especially at the conclusion of autumn. In 2019, this festival will be celebrated on 13 January, Sunday. Days start looming after Lohri, i.e. the Magh month begins. This festival is celebrated all over the world. However, in Punjab, Haryana and Delhi, this festival is celebrated with great pomp and show.

On the evening of Lohri, people burn wood and dance around the fire and sing and offer sacrifices, peanuts, kheel, maize seeds in the fire. People orbiting fire and sitting around the fire make the fire. During this time Revdi, Kheel, Gajjak, enjoy eating corn.

Know how to celebrate Lohri-

  1. There is a tradition of going door-to-door on Lohri and singing songs of Dulla Bhatti and other types, but this is rarely the case nowadays.
  2. The children go to Lohri from house to house and are not returned empty handed. Hence they are given jaggery, groundnut, sesame, gajak or revdi.
  3. Woods are collected from house to house throughout the day. Nowadays money has also been given in place of wood from which wood is bought and brought in the evening in the open space around the chairahae or houses.
  4. In that fire, sesame, jaggery and maize are offered as an offering.
  5. Lohri is distributed to all by lighting a fire. The dance-music phase also continues. Male Bhangra and women dance Gidda.

Lohri was earlier called Tilodi. The word Tilodi is made up of the words Til and Rhodi . Which now became famous as Lohri.

History of Lohri –

There were two orphan girls. Whose names were Sundari and Mundari. By not marrying them duly, his uncle wanted to present him to a king. At the same time there is a robber named Dulla Bhatti. He freed Sundari and Mundari from the bloodthirsty and married them.

Dulla Bhatti helped the girls in this hour of trouble. Dulla Bhatti persuaded the boys and got Sundari and Mundari married by lighting a fire in a forest. Dulay himself also bestowed both of them. It is also said that the groom gave him sugar as Shagun. When the groom sent the girls away, he put a sugar in their bag. Dulla Bhatti also played the role of a father to poor girls. They also say that they celebrate this festival in memory of Saint Kabir’s wife Loi. That is why this festival is also called Loi. Thus, this festival is celebrated all over North India with pomp.

Covid-19 update: Active cases in India drop to 2,14,507

By
Shivani Negi
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India has added 15,968 new cases of covid-19, taking the overall caseload in the country to 1,04,95,147. According to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, 202 deaths were reported in the past 24 hours taking the death toll to 1,51,529. Since the last 19 days, less than 300 new deaths per day have been recorded in the country.

With 17,817 more discharges, the cumulative recoveries reached 1,01,29,111. According to the Ministry of Health, India has 2,14,507 active COVID-19 cases currently. The recovery rate stands at 96.51 per cent while the fatality rate is 1.44 as per cent.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 18,34,89,114 samples were tested for COVID-19 up to January 12 including 8,36,227 samples tested yesterday.

Here’re some more updates:

*Ahead of much-awaited nationwide mass vaccination drive against coronavirus, more than 56 lakh doses of the covishield, developed by Serum Institute of India, has been transported across 13 cities in India from Pune. India will launch its vaccine drive from January 16.

*The Delhi Police has made adequate security arrangements in the city for the smooth transportation of COVID-19 vaccines when the countrywide vaccination roll-out will begin later this week.

*Jharkhand has not reported any fresh COVID-19 fatality in the past 24 hours, even as 127 new cases pushed the tally to 1,17,088, a health department official said on Wednesday. 

*The Chinese mainland on Tuesday reported 115 newly confirmed Covid-19 cases, of whom 107 were locally transmitted and the rest arrived from outside the mainland, the National Health Commission said on Wednesday. The number is country’s highest daily record in five months.

*The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has announced a new requirement for a negative Covid-19 test to all air passengers entering the US.

*Another 45,533 people in Britain have tested positive for Covid-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 3,164,051, according to official figures.

*Russia confirmed 22,934 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the country’s total caseload to 3,448,203, the country’s COVID-19 response center said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the overall global coronavirus caseload has topped 91 million, while the deaths have surged to more than 1.96 million, according to the Johns Hopkins University.

CDS calls on LG in Jammu discusses security situation

By
Jyoti B
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Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat on Tuesday called on Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and discussed with him the present security situation in Jammu and Kashmir, a Raj Bhawan spokesperson said.

General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Northern Command, Lt Gen Y K Joshi was also present in the meeting.

General Rawat and the L-G discussed several issues regarding the present security situation in the Union Territory. The two also discussed the important issues pertaining to internal and external security management, he said.

General Rawat completed his two-day visit to the forward military posts in Ladakh sector along China border today and interacted with Army soldiers. He complimented them for their high morale and enhanced operational readiness, as per Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff.

Elon Musk’s Tesla makes entry in India

By
Jyoti B
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American electric car maker Tesla has registered its Indian arm amid indications that the company is set to enter the country’s automobile market. According to a regulatory filing, the firm has registered Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt Ltd with RoC Bangalore.

It is a private unlisted company with an authorized capital of Rs 15,00,000 and a paid-up capital of Rs 1,00,000.

This announcement officially marks Tesla’s India entry in the state of Karnataka. It would be interesting to see if the company would set-up its manufacturing base in Karnataka, or will continue to keep up the suspense and be wooed away by some other state.

The regulatory filing shows the Indian unit has three directors including David Feinstein, who is currently a senior executive at Tesla, according to his LinkedIn profile, V Sreeram, and Vaibhav Taneja.

The documents stated that the subsidiary has been registered with a paid capital of Rs 1 lakh and authorised share capital of Rs 15 lakh, divided into 150,000 equity shares of Rs 10 each.

Tesla’s entry into India comes at a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is increasingly focusing to promote the use of electric vehicles.

Last month, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had said Tesla is set to start its operations in the country in 2021 and would also look at setting up a manufacturing unit based on demand.

Earlier on Tuesday, auto major Tata Motors denied tying up with the company for its India foray.

“Tata Motors has not taken any decision regarding a strategic partner for its PV business and categorically denies any and all rumours suggesting the same,” the company said in a regulatory statement.

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa also tweeted on Tuesday to inform that Tesla is setting up its research and development (R&D) centre in Bengaluru to commence its India operations soon. The Karnataka government had made a strong pitch to invite Tesla to the state.

“Karnataka will lead India’s journey towards Green Mobility. Electric Vehicle Manufacturer Tesla will soon start its operations in India with an R&D unit in Bengaluru. I welcome @elonmusk to India & Karnataka and wish him all the very best,” tweeted Yediyurappa.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who recently became world’s richest person after surpassing Amazon’s Jeff Bezos by adding more than $160 billion to his net worth in the last 12 months, had been expressing his plans to enter India for around two years.

In 2018, Musk had revealed on Twitter about his plans to have a partial presence in India by 2019. Last year, he had once again confirmed his intention to expand operations in India by 2021. 

S Jaishankar Proposes 8-point Action Plan at UNSC on global fight against terrorism

By
Jyoti B
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Minister of external affairs S Jaishankar on Tuesday called for political will to combat terrorism across the globe. “There must be no ifs and buts in the fight,” he said while addressing the UNSC Open Debate, according to news agency ANI.

This was the first time that EAM made an intervention in the UNSC after India has assumed membership on January 1, 2021.

As notified by the UN, the briefers were Mr. Vladimir Voronkov, Under Secretary General, UN Office of Counter Terrorism, Ms. Michele Coninsx, Executive Director of Counter Terrorism Committee and Ms. Fatima Akilu, Executive Director, Neem Foundation. Mr. Othman Jerandi, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tunisia will preside over the event.

Calling out “double standards,” the foreign minister said “Terrorists are terrorists, there are no good and bad ones. Those who propagate this distinction have an agenda and those who cover up for them are just as culpable.”

“While we must enhance the capacities of the former, the international community must collectively call out the latter and hold them accountable,” he told the UN members.

S Jaishankar stated, “Nor should we allow terrorism to be justified & terrorists glorified. All members must fulfill the obligations enshrined in int’l counter-terrorism instruments,” according to ANI.

Addressed the UN Security Council  chaired by Tunisia on global fight against terrorism.

S Jaishankar Proposed an 8-point Action Plan:

1. Summon the political will: Don’t justify terrorism. Don’t glorify terrorists.

2. No double standards. Terrorists are terrorists. No good or bad distinction.

3. Don’t place blocks and holds on listing requests without reason.

4. Discourage exclusivist thinking.

5. Enlist and delist objectively, not on political or religious considerations.

6. Recognise the linkage to organised crime.

7. Support & strengthen FATF.

8. Provide greater funding to UN Counter Terrorism.

The meeting  provided an opportunity to assess the progress made in creating the necessary legal and institutional frameworks related to the prevention and countering of terrorism and violent extremism conducive to terrorism and to highlight possible existing gaps and challenges.

UN Security Council Resolution 1373 was passed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks on the US. Setting the bedrock of the Council’s action in the field of Counter-Terrorism, the resolution called on States to implement a number of measures aiming at enhancing their legal and institutional capacity to prevent and counter terrorist threats, including by criminalizing terrorist acts, ensuring that terrorists are brought to justice and denying them safe havens and financial support.

Netflix promises ”new movie every week”

By
Jyoti B
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Netflix on its official Twitter page promised of “a new movie every week”, and on Tuesday announced the titles that will be premiering on the streaming service in 2021.

The streamer shared the news in a video featuring some of the stars attached to these projects. “2021 = a new movie EVERY WEEK on Netflix. Here’s a sneak peek at 27 of the biggest, brightest, fastest, funniest, feel-good, feel-everything films and stars coming to Netflix this year,” tweeted.

The films will feature some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Sandra Bullock, Dwayne Johnson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Idris Elba, Meryl Streep, Zendaya, and more.

Here is the list released Tuesday:

ACTION
“Army of the Dead”
“Awake”
“Kate”
“Outside the Wire (Jan. 15)”
“Red Notice”
“Sweet Girl”

HORROR
“Fear Street Trilogy”
“No One Gets Out Alive”
“There’s Someone Inside Your House”
“Things Heard and Seen”

THRILLER
“Blood Red Sky”
“Beckett”
“Escape from Spiderhead”
“Intrusion”
“Munich”
“O2”
“Night Teeth”
“The Swarm”
“The Woman in the Window”
“SCI-FI”
“Stowaway”

ROMANCE
“A Castle For Christmas”
“Fuimos Canciones”
“Kissing Booth 3”
“Love Hard”
“The Last Letter from Your Lover”
“The Princess Switch 3”
“To All The Boys: Always and Forever”
“Untitled Alicia Keys Rom-Com”

DRAMA
“Beauty”
“Blonde”
“Bombay Rose”
“Bruised”
“Concrete Cowboy”
“Fever Dream”
“Malcolm & Marie” (February 5)
“Monster”
“Penguin Bloom” (January 27)
“Pieces of a Woman” (January 7)
“The Dig” (January 29)
“The Guilty”
“The Hand of God”
“The Power of the Dog”
“The Starling”
“The White Tiger” (January 22)
“Unt. Alexandre Moratto Film”
“Unt. Graham King”

WESTERN
“The Harder They Fall”

COMEDY
“8 Rue de l’Humanité”
“Afterlife of the Party”
“Bad Trip”
“Don’t Look Up”
“Double Dad”
“I Care A Lot” (February 19)
“Moxie” (March 3)
“The Last Mercenary”
“Thunder Force”

FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
“A Boy Called Christmas”
“A Winter’s Tale from Shaun the Sheep”
“Back to the Outback”
“Finding ‘Ohana” (January 29)
“Nightbooks”
“Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles”
“Robin Robin”
“Skater Girl”
“The Loud House Movie”
“Trollhunters: Rise of the Titans”
“Wish Dragon”
“YES DAY” (March 12)

MUSICAL
“A Week Away”
“tick, tick…BOOM”

This is the first time Netflix has announced a yearly features slate from the streamer”s original film division, headed by Scott Stuber since 2017. 

Netflix has never released its slate of films all at once. But it hasn’t had this much competition before. HBO Max announcement, and Disney held a massive investor day in December, firing off title after title coming to Disney Plus 2021 and 2022. Netflix, which is better at retaining subscribers, is reminding customers why they stick around: consistency and talent.

Netflix is well-positioned to acquire even more titles in the coming year, as studios have been left with little choice but to abandon traditional release and distribution models for a majority of projects and release them on streaming services instead due to the ongoing impact of COVID-19.

No picture of Virat, Anushka Sharma’s daughter has been shared; Vikas Kohli clarifies

By
Shivani Negi
-

Anushka Sharma and Virat Kohli welcomed their baby girl on January 11. As soon as the cricketer shared the information on his social media account, the post was filled with congratulatory wishes. Meanwhile, Virat’s brother Vikas Kohli had also shard a warm post welcoming lil angel along with a pic of newborn’s feet wrapped in a cosy blanket. Happiness overboard… angel in the house,” he wrote in his caption. Since the picture was shared by Virat’s brother himself while congratulating the couple, it was assumed that the it was the picture of Virat and Anushka’s daughter. Several reports regarding the same was published. However, now the cricketer’s brother had clarified that it was a random picture taken from the internet and was not the one that it was being assumed.

“Guys let me clarify that the picture i posted yesterday to congratulate anushka and virat is a random picture and not the actual picture of the baby… as some media channels are reporting… posting to clarify,” he wrote.

Meanwhile, earlier sharing the heartwarming news with fans and followers on social media, Virat had shared a statement that read,. “We are thrilled to share with you that we have been blessed with a baby girl this afternoon. We thank you all for your love, prayers and good wishes. Anushka and the baby are both healthy and we are feeling beyond blessed to start this new chapter of our lives. We hope that you can respect our privacy at this time. Love, Virat.”

Kerala theatres to resume operations from January 13 with Vijay’s Master

By
Shivani Negi
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The Kerala Film Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday announced that the theatres in state will reopen on January 13, with Vijay’s Tamil film Master. The film also stars Vijay Sethupathi and Malavika Mohanan in pivotal roles. Kerala, which has been one of the worst affected states by the covid-19 pandemic, has not resumed operations in theatres since 9 months, when the nationwide lockdown was imposed in March in the wake of novel coronavirus.

The development comes after a meeting of the Kerala Film Chamber of officials in Kochi who decided to address the KFCC’s main demands and concerns. Earlier on Monday, the Kerala government had announced that it would waive entertainment tax for cinemas from January to March 2011 along with 50 per cent reduction in the  fixed charges on electricity during the lockdown period since March last year, to help the film industry in the state recuperate.

Meanwhile, Kerala Film Chamber officials said the government has addressed all their concerns and expressed gratitude Kerala theatres to resume operations from January 13 with Vijay’s Master towards Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan for his special attention to the mother. Earlier, on January 1, the government had said that the theatres could reopen with 50 per cent occupancy while ensuring strictest covid-19 guidelines.

Most powerful passports 2021: India ranks 85, Japan held top spot for 3rd consecutive year

By
Jyoti B
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This year brought travel industry to a halt. While we isolated inside our homes, our passports were also left unused.

However, the updated Henley and Partners Passport Index of 2021 has come out with a new ranking of the world’s most powerful passports, and India ranks 85th on the new list.

The ranking is based on exclusive data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA), which maintains the world’s largest and most accurate database of travel information, and research by the Henley & Partners Research Department.

Here is the list of the top 10 countries:

* Japan (#1)
* Singapore (#2)
* South Korea (#3)
* Germany (#3)
*  Italy (#4)
*  Finland (#4)
*  Spain (#4)
*  Luxembourg (#4)
*  Denmark (#5)
*  Austria (#5)
* Sweden (#6)
* France (#6)
* Portugal (#6)
* Netherlands (#6)
* Ireland (#6)
* Switzerland (#7)
* United States (#7)
* United Kingdom (#7)
* Norway (#7)
* Belgium (#7)
* New Zealand (#7)
* Greece (#8)
* Malta (#8)
* Czech Republic (#8)
* Australia (#8)
* Canada (#9)
* Hungary (#10)

Without taking temporary restrictions into account, Japan continues to hold the number one position on the index, with passport holders able to access 191 destinations around the world visa-free.

This marks the third consecutive year that Japan has held the top spot, either alone or jointly with Singapore. 

Pakistan (rank 107) and Nepal (rank 104) continue to be in the ‘worst passports to hold’ category as reported by CNN with Pakistan having a visa-free score of 32 countries and Nepal having a score of 38 destinations.

Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan continue to be the countries with the worst passport to hold with a passport score of 29, 28 and 26 respectively.

India vs Australia: Pant likely to play as a batsmen, Saha as wicketkeeper in Gabba Test

By
Harshit
-
India vs Australia, Rishabh Pant, Hanuman Vihari,

The injury of Hanuma Vihari, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin could weaken the Indian batting order in the fourth and final Test match to be held in Brisbane.

In such a situation, the team management can try Wriddhiman Saha as the wicketkeeper while Rishabh Pant as the specialist batsman. India can also accompany Mayank Agarwal and Prithvi Shaw as a specialist batsmen for the fourth and final Test to be held in Brisbane.

Mohammed Shami and Umesh Yadav and Lokesh Rahul have returned home after suffering injuries.

Virat Kohli has also returned home due to the birth of his first child. In the absence of all these, India’s lineup does not look right. Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma will start the innings while Cheteshwar Pujara will bat at number three and captain Ajinkya Rahane at number four.

Maruti Suzuki Swift Mid-life refresh may launch soon

By
Jyoti B
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One of Maruti Suzuki’s most popular hatchbacks, the Swift, received a mid-life refresh overseas in May 2020, and it looks like the India-spec model will get it pretty soon. A partially covered model was spotted in the country for the first time, indicating a launch around February. 

It is confirmed from the sources the company will launch 6-7 Maruti Suzuki cars in the next financial year. Talking about the upcoming Maruti Suzuki car first — it was also spotted on a test run in India fairly recently.

The facelifted model, which has been available for retail in international markets since 2020, will feature largely cosmetic updates.

The list of changes will include a revised fascia which will now get a revised radiator grille. The upcoming car in India will also be offered with an optional dual-tone exterior colour option in its 2021 avatar. Besides that, we don’t expect to see the car’s exterior to feature any other changes.

The 2021 Maruti Suzuki Swift facelift will ditch its existing 1.2-litre four-cylinder K12M engine and adopt the new K12N Dualjet engine.

This engine produces more power with 90hp on tap compared to the 83hp on the current version of the Swift. Torque output however remains unchanged at 113Nm. This new 1.2-litre four-cylinder petrol engine also comes with idle start-stop tech and that should greatly help increase efficiency.

Now, Maruti Suzuki is yet to officially reveal the launch details of the Swift facelift. However, sources suggest that the updated car is expected to go on sale in India before mid-2021.

The Supreme Court stayed all three agricultural laws, formed a committee of four members

By
Neha Kumari
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The Supreme Court gave a big decision on the farmers’ movement today. In its judgment, the Supreme Court has stayed the implementation of all the three agricultural laws and constituted a committee of four members. The bench, headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde, ruled.

The Supreme Court said on Monday that the farmers’ concerns need to be placed before the committee.

Advocate ML Sharma on behalf of the farmers in the Supreme Court said that the farmers are not in favor of the committee and we want to return the laws. He said that farmers’ land will be sold.

The Chief Justice said, ‘We want the farmers to go to the committee, we want a solution to this issue and indefinite performance will not solve it.’ He said, ‘No one can stop us from forming a committee. The committee that will be formed will report to us.

CJI said that the committee we are making for ourselves and the committee will report to us. Anyone can go before the committee.

CJI’s comment; Said- this is not politics, we want a solution to the problem. We want to know the ground reality so we want to constitute the committee. The CJI said that yesterday, the lawyer for the farmers Dave said that the farmers will not take out a tractor rally on January 26. If farmers can go before the government then why not before the committee? If they want a solution to the problem then we do not want to hear that farmers will not appear before the committee. The CJI said that it is being heard that there is a preparation to disrupt the Republic Day program. The question is whether people want a solution or a problem. If you want a solution, then you cannot say that you will not go to the committee.

These four members are included in the Supreme Court committee
Jeetendra Singh Mann, President of BKU
Dr. Pramod Kumar Joshi, Head of International Policy
Ashok Gulati, Agricultural Economist,
Anil Dhanwat, Sivakeri Organization, Maharashtra.

Saina, Prannoy test positive for COVID again

By
Harshit
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Saina Nehwal, HS Prannoy, Thailand Open,

Indian shuttlers Saina Nehwal and HS Prannoy have tested positive for COVID-19 for the second time. The duo are currently in Thailand to take part in the mega Thailand Open which began on Tuesday.

“Saina and Prannoy tested positive for COVID-19 during a test conducted on Monday. They will stay in quarantine for 10 days in a Bangkok hospital. Kashyap too will have to head to the hospital as he is close contact,” a source in the Badminton Association of India (BAI) said.

As of now the trio of Saina Nehwal, H S Prannoy, and Parupalli Kashyap are out of the tournament and they might come back to India after testing negative.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Indian team have been allowed to participate in the tournament as they test negative.

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