South Africa’s Mbulaeni Mulaudzi became the second defending athletics champion to be ruled out of the Commonwealth Games in a matter of hours on Thursday.
The 25-year-old 2004 Olympic silver medallist injured an ankle when it was spiked in the world indoor 800m final in Moscow last Sunday, although he still ran on to be second behind Kenyan Wilfrid Bungei.
South African team doctor Harold Adams said the 2003 world championship bronze medallist — who surprisingly failed to make the world final last year — had suffered a laceration to his left ankle.
”He needed three stitches and there is quite a lot of swelling, and because of that swelling his range of movement in that ankle is pretty limited,” said Adams.
Mulaudzi’s withdrawal is a huge blow to a South African team who were hoping to fare better than at the 2002 Games, where they fared poorly.
”We’d already put his name next to a gold medal,” said South African chef de mission Gideon Sam.
Mulaudzi’s withdrawal follows that of St Kitts and Nevis’ men’s 100m champion Kim Collins, who pulled out after failing to recover from a long-term groin injury. — Sapa-AFP