The national camp for badminton players is currently underway at the Gopichand Academy in Hyderabad and ever since it has started, it has seen its fair share of ups and downs. For starters, doubles specialist N Sikki Reddy and a physio tested positive for COVID-19, only to test negative two days later and return to the camp. The positive test had led to the academy being closed down for two days and being sanitised. Moreover, while eight athletes were named in the list for the camp, only three are currently taking part in it while the rest are training in their own capacities in various cities across the country.

Men's singles star Parupalli Kashyap has told IANS that he doesn't see the harm in allowing other top players to train in the academy. "They (SAI) have basically allowed three or four players to train. Players train for about two or three hours a day and the rest of the time, the courts are empty anyway. So now why don't they allow another five to ten players who are the top players to train also at different timings?" Kashyap asked.