Badminton: Players cleared for All England Open after COVID-19 scare

Wednesday, 17 March 2021 18:38

By Reuters

The All England Open will take place with a full complement of players, the Badminton World Federation (BWF) said on Wednesday.

The announcement came hours after pushing back the tournament's start time to allow the retesting of some samples for COVID-19.

The BWF had said in an earlier statement that play would begin at 1400 GMT instead of 0900 GMT to allow the samples to be retested after a number of "inconclusive" and positive COVID-19 results among participating teams.

The retests were carried out after doubts were raised about the accuracy of the original batches of tests submitted by Badminton England.

"The outcome of the retest was deemed accurate and appropriate to use by Public Health England today," the BWF said in a statement.

"All individuals who had returned an inconclusive or positive test previously are now negative for COVID-19 and cleared to resume their participation in the tournament."

The Super 1000 tournament will see the return of world number one Kento Momota to elite-level competition after a car crash in Malaysia last year.

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