Indian hockey player Mandeep Singh tests positive for COVID-19

Indian hockey team forward Mandeep Singh has tested positive for COVID-19, becoming the sixth national player to contract the dreaded infection, the Sports Authority of India (SAI) said on Monday.

The 25-year-old from Jalandhar is asymptomatic and is being treated along with the other five players by doctors in Bengaluru, where the national camp is due to start on August 20 at the SAI centre.

"Mandeep Singh, a member of the Indian Men's Hockey team, who was given the Covid test (RT PCR) along with 20 other players at the National Camp at SAI''s National Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru, has tested COVID positive, but is asymptomatic," the SAI said in a statement.

"He is being administered treatment by doctors, along with the other five players who have tested positive."

Indian captain Manpreet Singh and four other players had tested positive for COVID-19 last week after returning to the SAI Centre following a month-long break.

Defender Surender Kumar, Jaskaran Singh, drag-flicker Varun Kumar and goalkeeper Krishan Bahadur Pathak are the other four players, who tested positive.

According to the SAI doctors, all the players were showing only "mild symptoms" and are doing well. They are housed in the National Centre of Excellence in Bengaluru.

The players were earlier stranded at the centre for over two months (till June) when a national lockdown was imposed to contain the virus.

After coming back from the break, the players were in mandatory quarantine before the resumption of training at the centre.

India's COVID-19 case tally has crossed 22 lakh with the overall death toll nearing the 45,000-mark.