Czech beach volleyball player tests positive for Covid at Tokyo Olympic Village

The 26-year-old becomes the third Tokyo 2020 athlete to test positive for the virus following South African footballers Thabiso Monyane and Kamohelo Mahlatsi

Czech beach volleyball player Ondrej Perusic has become the third Tokyo 2020 athlete to test positive for Covid at the Olympic Village in Tokyo.

The country’s Olympic Committee confirmed the positive test for the virus on Monday, following the news that South African footballers Thabiso Monyane and Kamohelo Mahlatsi had also tested positive.

The Czech team confirmed on Saturday that a staff member had tested positive for the virus after arriving in Tokyo on a charter flight from Prague.

“Unfortunately, beach volleyball player Ondrej Perusic has a positive finding from a sample taken during daily testing in the Olympic village on Sunday,” Martin Doktor, sports director of the Czech Olympic Committee, said in a statement.

“It is still fresh information and everything is evolving quickly. We are solving details, including the sport impact.”

Perusic, 26, becomes the third player to test positive for Covid at the Village, after two South African footballers, Thabiso Monyane and Kamohelo Mahlatsi, returned positive tests for Covid.

Perusic was due to play his first match on July 26, which the team said was now unlikely due to isolation requirements.

Postponed for a year due to the global pandemic, the Games are being held mostly without spectators and under tight quarantine rules. Most athletes are starting to arrive for the Olympics, which run from July 23 through Aug. 8.

The early signs of positive tests will cause concern for organisers with around 11,000 athletes and many more thousands of team officials expected to arrive in Japan.

Additional reporting from Reuters