Two more Aussies withdraw from CWG
Two more Australian track and field athletes opted not to take part in the 2010 Commonwealth Games, which opens in New Delhi on Sunday.
Discus thrower and shot putter Scott Martin and hurdler Hayley Butler begged off due to injuries.
Martin, the defending champion in the men's discus throw, sustained a chest injury during the Oceania Athletics Championships in Cairns last week.
"I've had a category one or grade one tear in my right pectoral, which has disabled me from throwing, so I'm not going to make the trip," said Martin, who also won a bronze medal in the shot put in Melbourne.
He explained that withdrawing from the quadrennial multi-sport meet is a tough decision to make. "It's a very difficult decision not to go, but the decision was made for me I guess with the injury. I really couldn't compete, certainly not at my best and
there would be no opportunity to train before the competition," he said.
Butler, meanwhile, is still recovering from fractures on both feet. Her absence left Olympic silver medallist Sally Pearson as Australia's only medal hope in the 100-metre hurdles.
Martin and Butler joined several top Australian athletes who decided to skip this year's CWG.
Among those who earlier withdrew were tennis stars Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur, swimmer Stephanie Rice, discus world champion Dani Samuels, cyclist Travis Meyer and table tennis player Stephanie Sang.
Other world-class athletes who will not make the trip to Delhi are Jamaican sprinters Usain Bolt, Asafa Powell and Shelly Ann Fraser, Scottish tennis player Andy Murray, top British cyclists Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton, English track and field athletes
Phillips Idowu, Christine Ohuruogu, Jessica Ennis and Paula Radcliffe, and Kenyan runners Asbel Kiprop and Linet Masai.
The athletes cited various reasons ranging from injuries to security concerns for skipping the 19th
edition of the games.
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