Sprinter Pickering ruled out of Grand Prix with illness
Pickering ruled out of Grand Prix
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Thursday, 14, Feb 2008 08:32
A virus has ruled Craig Pickering out of the Birmingham Grand Prix, with the sprinter's appearance in next month's World Indoor Championships now also in doubt.
The 21-year old finished fifth in the 60 metres at last week's trials behind the race's controversial winner Dwain Chambers.
Now his coach Malcolm Arnold has revealed that the sprinter has been suffering from a virus, which may explain his poor showing last week after many commentators had named him as one of Great Britain's big hopes for the forthcoming World Indoor Championships and the Olympic Games in Beijing.
Arnold said: "Craig is suffering from diarrhoea, and the doctor believes he has picked up a virus.
"He has been told to take a total rest and, obviously, he is very disappointed he will not be running in Birmingham at the weekend.
"Now we have to hope that Craig is fit enough to run in Paris next Friday and prove that he is over his bad patch."
Though all eyes will be on Chambers in the events running up to the World Indoor Chamionships in Valencia, triple jumper Phillips Idowu has said that he hopes a solid performance from the British squad will be enough to bring the focus away from doping controversies and back onto athletics.
"We have a lot of athletes going into the World Indoor Championships and they are not gaining any headlines," he added.