THE entire squash team, including coaches, based in Bukit Jalil, have been placed under quarantine.
This is because they were in close contact with national hammer thrower Jackie Wong, who is the first athlete to contract Covid-19.
The 27-year-old, who is currently quarantined at the Sibu Hospital, had used the facilities at the National Sports Centre in Bukit Jalil.
“We were told that Jackie was using the same gym facilities that our players had used from March 1-10,” explained Squash Racquets Association of Malaysia (SRAM) director Mejar (Rtd) S. Maniam.
“As a result of that, we cancelled all training sessions on Monday and told our players and coaches to self isolate immediately.
“With Malaysia also entering a restricted movement phase, our players and coaches will also remain isolated until the end of the month.
“As such, the players will not be able to train on the courts and utilise any training facilities.”
Being unable to train is the latest blow for the national players who are already facing uncertainty following the postponement of the Professional Squash Association (PSA) Tour.
Additionally, SRAM’s plans to have an intra-squad tournament at the end of this month will also be cancelled.
Maniam is, however, positive that the players will be able to get through this challenging period.
“Even though they can’t train, I am not expecting them to slack off,” said Maniam.
“I will be handing out home-based training programmes to the players.” Kng Zheng Guan