Doctor with Indian boxing team tests positive

Karm Prakash

Tribune News Service

Patiala, July 13

In yet another setback to the Indian boxing team, team doctor Amol Patil has tested positive for Covid-19. Patil was placed in quarantine alongside chief coach of men’s team, AC Kutappa, chief coach of women’s team, Ali Qamar, and another coach, Khemanand Beniwal, when they arrived in Patiala for a camp.

Patil, who came to Patiala after staying in Rishikesh for over four months, gave his sample on Saturday. He has been shifted to a makeshift Covid centre. It is understood that all the coaches and two cooks, who brought them food, will be tested tomorrow. The boxers, who were housed in a different block, however, will not be tested as of now.

“He (Amol) is stable and there are no health complications as of now. He is asymptomatic,” Dr Harish Malhotra, a civil surgeon with the Patiala health department, told The Tribune.

The boxing camp has been in the news for a while now and there is an enquiry constituted by the Sports Authority of India (SAI) after a few of the boxers broke quarantine rules to visit the mess. Subsequently, RS Bishnoi, the administrator of the National Institute of Sports (NIS), Patiala, has been temporarily shifted to the headquarters in New Delhi. Vikas Krishan, Neeraj Goyat and Satish Kumar were seen mingling with other athletes and staff when they were to be in their rooms.