Mary Kom broke quarantine for President’s breakfast

New Delhi, March 21

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After returning from a tournament in Jordan, Indian boxer and Rajya Sabha member MC Mary Kom broke the mandatory 14-day quarantine protocol which has been put in place by the World Health Organisation and Indian government in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

Quarantine was for 14 days, says Coach Nieva

Indian boxing coach Santiago Nieva said that the boxing contingent that participated in Jordan are in the mandatory 14-day quarantine. “Ten days we had planned but now it becomes 14 days. So after 10 days I am working on a training programme which I will send them. After this period they can start on that. If this is not solved within two weeks then we will have to continue like this as best as we can,” Nieva said on Friday.

After returning from the Asian Olympic Qualifiers in Jordan, the Indian boxing team was to be home-quarantined in view of the threat even though all the contingent members had got the necessary health clearances, the Boxing Federation of India had said on 12 March. Mary Kom returned to India the next day and was self-isolating at her Delhi residence.

However, six days after returning to India, she attended the breakfast hosted by President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in Delhi on March 18. In that event, Members of Parliament from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan were present. Photographs of the same were shared on the President’s Twitter account.

BJP lawmaker Dushyant Singh, who came in contact with coronavirus-positive Bollywood singer Kanika Kapoor at a party, was also present at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Singh is now in self-quarantine.

Mary Kom has admitted that she attended the president’s event. “I am home since I came back from Jordan. I only attended the president’s event and did not meet Dushyant or shake hands with him. My quarantine after Jordan ends but I’m going to be at home only for the next 3-4 days,” she was quoted as saying by IANS.

The precautionary measure was necessitated by a training trip to Italy by the Indian boxers before they landed in Jordan, even though the entire Indian team had got Covid-19 negative certificates from the International Olympic Committee. — TNS, Agencies