Ohuruogu withdraws

LONDON (AP):

Olympic 400-metre champion, Christine Ohuruogu, withdrew from England's track and field team yesterday for the New Delhi Commonwealth Games due to injury.

Ohuruogu does not want to endanger her hopes of defending her Olympic title at the 2012 London Games by aggravating a thigh injury.

Having missed the European Championships in July and August, the 26-year-old Ohuruogu felt a cramp during a training session over the weekend - two weeks before the start of the Commonwealth Games.

"With the 2012 Olympic Games on the horizon, the last thing an athlete wants to do is risk re-injury to the same muscle," Ohuruogu said in a statement. "It was very important for me to be cautious in dealing with my previous injury; although training was progressing well, intense competition over three days may prove to be more harmful than good and may compromise the long term functioning of the muscle."

Defending 1,500-metre champion, Lisa Dobriskey, also pulled out of England's team yesterday after being advised by UK Athletics doctors to rest and focus on winter training after an injury-hit season.

"I'm really disappointed but I just ran out of time," Dobriskey said.

Ohuruogu said she will have a short break and resume training in October ahead of the 2011 season.

Ohuruogu won the 400 at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan - just weeks after completing a one-year ban for missing three out-of-competition doping tests from October 2005 to July 2006.