Nigeria Content Online

Caster
Semenya, the women’s 800 metres world champion, has withdrawn from the
Commonwealth Games because of a back injury dealing the event another
blow, South Africa’s Olympic body announced on Tuesday.

The 19-year-old,
cleared to compete again in July after controversial gender tests had
put her career on hold since she won the world title in August 2009,
has suffered serious lower back pain and been uncomfortable in her last
few races.

Semenya had an MRI
scan earlier on Tuesday which showed an inflammation of the spine and
left the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee
(Sascoc) with no alternative but to pull the medal prospect out of
their team.

“It would serve no
purpose to have an athlete in Delhi who was struggling with any sort of
injury that would compromise performance and it is our medical view
that physically and emotionally she would not be capable of doing
justice to her talent at an event of this magnitude,” Shuaib Manjra,
Team South Africa’s chief medical officer said in a statement.

Massive blow

Sascoc chief
executive Tubby Reddy said Semenya’s withdrawal was a blow to South
Africa’s medal hopes at the games but the welfare of the athlete was
his organisation’s main concern.

“She was one of our athletes that was expected to do well and win a medal,” Reddy told Reuters.

“But if she is
carrying an injury it would do her no good to try and compete in Delhi
because it could impact on her future achievements. We have thus
decided to follow our medical team’s advice and withdraw her from the
team,” he added.

Other high-profile
athletes missing from the Games include world champion sprinter Usain
Bolt, who said the event had come too late in the year, and Kenyan 800
metres world record holder David Rudisha, who blamed tiredness for his
withdrawal.

The absence of some
of the world’s top athletes has taken a lot of the shine off an event
India had hoped to use to display its growing global influence,
rivalling China which put on a spectacular 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics.

Other athletes have
pulled out citing health concerns surrounding dirty accommodation in
the athletes’ village while some have withdrawn becuase of fears over
security.

In a boost for the Games, Isle of Man cyclist Mark Cavendish, a Tour
de France stage winner and one of the world’s best sprinters, said he
would compete in the road race.