Indian women's hockey captain Rani Rampal, six other players test positive for COVID-19

New Delhi: Seven members of the Indian women’s hockey team, including captain Rani Rampal, and two support staff members on Monday tested positive for COVID-19 ahead of a training camp at the Sports Authority of India’s (SAI) Centre in Bengaluru. All the players and support staff are asymptomatic and have been placed under observation at the SAI centre. “They were tested on 24 April, post quarantine after their return from their respective home towns to their training base at SAI Bengaluru, as per the laid down protocol,” the SAI said in a statement. Besides Rampal, the others who have been infected are Savita Punia, Sharmila Devi, Rajani, Navjot Kaur, Navneet Kaur and Sushila. The two support staff members who have tested positive are video analyst Amrutaprakash and scientific advisor Wayne Lombard. The Indian women’s hockey core group had returned to the national camp in Bengaluru on Sunday last to restart the preparations for the Tokyo Olympics after a 10-day break. The 25-member Olympic core group underwent mandatory quarantine before the commencement of training. In January, the team toured Argentina where it played seven matches. The side drew two matches against the host country’s junior team, lost the next two against Argentina B side and then suffered defeats in the two games against world number two senior team. In the tour of Germany in February-March, the Indian women’s team lost all its four matches against the world number three home side.