Shotgun coach tests positive for coronavirus in Cairo, quarantined

Vinayak Padmadeo

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 28

A shotgun coach accompanying the Indian team at the ongoing ISSF World Cup Shotgun has tested positive for Covid-19 in Egypt’s Cairo.

The coach and the team were tested for the contagion upon their arrival in the city. Swabs from others, including some team members travelling with the coach, have all returned negative.

The coach, who is asymptomatic, was taken to a hospital where all his vitals were checked. He was put in quarantine where the team is staying.

The area near his room has been completely cordoned off and his condition is being monitored by a medical team placed in the hotel.

Interestingly, the team and the coach took an RT-PCR test before flying to Cairo as per protocol.

“There is a full medical team in the hotel to monitor his progress,” a member of the team disclosed.

It is expected that the coach will undergo a fresh test in a day or so. Organisers have set strict protocols for the World Cup. All teams have to undertake Covid tests every 72 hours.

In the coach’s case, if his latest report returns positive as well then he will be put under a seven-day quarantine.

On the shooting front, the World Cup is not going according to plans for the Indian team as both Angad Vir Singh Bajwa and Mairaj Khan, who have qualified for the Olympics, failed to make it to the final of the skeet competition. Both shot identical low scores of 113. The third member of the skeet team, Gurjaot Singh Khangura, who was appearing for his first senior competition, shot 119 but narrowly missed out on entering the final.

The trio, however, won a team bronze medal on Friday.