NEW DELHI: India’s top table tennis players aren’t keen on joining the national camp in Bengaluru, tentatively scheduled for mid-October start. The reason being the Sports Authority of India‘s (SAI) quarantine rule for athletes and coaches.
According to SAI’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for camps, the athletes will have to mandatorily undergo a seven-day quarantine period upon his/her arrival at the camp. The SOP also calls for a self-isolation period where athletes will have to self-isolate themselves 15 days before joining the training.

World No. 32 and India’s second-best ranked paddler, G Sathiyan, told TOI that he will not join the camp until SAI provides some relaxation in its quarantine rule. He would rather stay put in Chennai and continue training under his personal coach, Subramaniam Raman.
“The biggest problem is the quarantine period. There’s no such quarantine rule even in Europe. For athletes, to lock them off their training for seven days, is a bigger concern for me. We will be having a three-week camp in Bengaluru. Now, for a 21-day camp, I’ll be first quarantined for a week and once the camp ends, I’ll again undergo a seven-day quarantine in Chennai. So, to undergo two weeks of quarantine for a three-week camp doesn’t make sense to me,” Sathiyan said.
Another Olympic hopeful, who didn’t wish to be named, said SAI’s quarantine rule has “complicated” things for them. “If an athlete reports negative in SAI’s RT-PCR test upon arrival, then he/she should be allowed to start training.”