New men’s singles champion Loh Kean Yew of Singapore has already arrived for the January 11-16 encounter, where he is seeded fifth.

Indonesia’s top doubles, former Olympic medalists Hendra Setiawan and Mohamad Ahsan, along with top Malaysians Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, also flew in for the first World Tour event of the year which around 220 players are expected to to participate.

But with just two days to go, a sense of foreboding reigns as India’s biggest badminton tournament, canceled for the past two seasons, will not be fully covered by a “bio-secure bubble”. While international stars and top Indians will be accommodated in a sanitized tournament hotel, a large number of players who do not feature in the top 25 in the world rankings will be outside of this loosely controlled arrangement.

The Badminton Association of India (BAI) hosts assured that they were “doing everything humanly possible to run a safe tournament”, and the event had been given the green light by the Delhi government, which has been consulted by the global body BWF when making a request whether the tournament should take place.

The cost of accommodation at the official hotel for the top 25 and all other international players is covered by the organizers while the others are expected to spend out of their own pocket which has put the tournament hotel out of the picture. reach for the most part.

“Most of the players have started arriving in New Delhi for the tournament. Foreign players as well as Indian players, ranked among the top 25 in the world, will stay at the same hotel. All participating players will take necessary safety precautions upon arrival in New Delhi as per protocol, and will be tested daily at the hotel and from there they will have shuttles to come to the stadium, play matches and go again at the hotel,” the BAI said in a statement.

The association has partnered with a hospital to carry out rapid antigen tests outside the stadium before anyone is allowed into a secure three-tiered playing arena. Furthermore, Denmark has already organized tournaments in a similar format.

While French, Russian and Canadian players pulled out of the fray, the England squad pulled out after doubles specialist Sean Vendy and coach Nathan Robertson tested positive before flying out of the UK Friday.

BWF commentator Steen Scheichler also tweeted about a last-minute appeal against travel after testing positive. And Indian singles B star Sai Praneeth and fellow player Dhruv Rawat tested positive before Hyderabad’s departure and were withdrawn from the event.

It is learned that a large number of withdrawals could eventually accumulate from the initial registration list of three months ago. The final picture will be clear at the managers’ meeting on Monday, given that invitations have been sent out up to No. 40 on the reserve list.

Sindhu is leading the Indian charge and will most likely be challenged by world number 12, Thailand’s Busanan Ongbamrungphan, who posted a picture of departure from Bangkok airport on Saturday, captioned “Wish me luck”. World champion Loh Kean Yew posted a photo from his hotel room with the words, “Finally here.”

The draw is swarming with Indians, some desperately risking traveling and gambling in search of valuable ranking points that are available in these abnormal circumstances.

A mandatory, daily Covid test for all players, match officials, BWF and BAI officials, support staff, suppliers and others involved will take place outside the stadium. “Only after testing negative will they be allowed to enter the room. BAI will not compromise on the safety of players as well as others involved, and will follow all Covid-19 guidelines given by the government,” the statement read.

On Sunday, the capital reported 22,751 new cases with a positivity rate climbing to 23.53%: 79,954 RT PCR and 16,724 rapid tests were carried out and 17 deaths were reported even as the daily number of cases doubled compared to 10,665 on January 5.