Johanna Konta and Bianca latest to pull out of Olympics

LONDON: Tennis players Johanna Konta of England and Bianca Andreescu of Canada have announced their withdrawal from the Tokyo Olympics.

Johanna, through a post on Twitter, revealed she had tested positive for Covid-19 while in self-isolation. The 30-year-old was forced to miss this year's Wimbledon after a member of her team tested positive for the virus.

"As a result, I have been unable to train for the last two and a half weeks and sadly, this has put my body in a situation where I am unable to ask it to be fully ready in time for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. This is a heart-breaking reality for me, as representing Team GB at the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016 is one of my most treasured memories from my career so far," read her statement.

Johanna concluded by saying, "I'll be doing my best to get myself back to full health and fitness and ready to be competing again soon."

Bianca, the world number five from Canada, took to Instagram on Monday to announce her decision to skip the Tokyo Olympics.

"To all my amazing fans, I would like to inform you that I have made the very difficult decision to not play in the Tokyo Olympics later this month. I have been dreaming of representing Canada at the Olympics since I was a little girl, but with all the challenges we are facing as it relates to the pandemic, I know that deep in my heart, this is the right decision to make for myself. I look forward to representing Canada in future Fed Cup ties, and competing at the 2024 Olympics in Paris!" read Bianca's post.

Johanna and Bianca have joined the list of big-ticket players to pull out of the Tokyo Olympics. The list of players skipping the Olympics includes Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Denis Shapovalov, Nick Kyrgios, Dominic Thiem, Simona Halep and Stan Wawrinka. (IANS)

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