Unsure about her fitness, British athlete Christine Ohuruogu says she cannot promise to defend her 400 metres title at the upcoming Commonwealth Games despite being named in England`s squad for the mega event.
|Last Updated: Aug 24, 2010, 01:24 PM IST|Source: Bureau
London: Unsure about her fitness, British athlete Christine Ohuruogu says she cannot promise to defend her 400 metres title at the upcoming Commonwealth Games despite being named in England`s squad for the mega event.
Christine, a former Olympic champion, has just started practicing after an injury-hit season and said she will not travel to Delhi unless she is sure she can give her best.
"I would love to be in Delhi. I think it`s going to be fantastic. But I`m the defending champion and I`m also an Olympic champion and a past world champion, so I cannot perform under my best. The next couple of years are really important and if you are going to run, you have to run properly," Christine was quoted as saying by the `Daily Telegraph`.
"I`m not in a position where I can just go and mess around for three weeks. Maybe a couple of years ago that would have worked but, as the defending champion now, I rate myself a bit more highly than that," she added.
Christine, who has only raced over 400m just four times this year, said her decision to fly to Delhi would depend on how her training sessions near the race come up.
"It`s great to be selected for the Commonwealths but the most important thing now is to get back to full fitness and then decide what the rest of the season is going to look like.”"I`ve got to have a couple of key [training] sessions before I race. When I can do those sessions, I will know that I`m good to go. The problem with getting injured in the summer is that you lose your sharpness. Your racing legs take weeks to develop.”"Maybe I could trot round the track in say 53 seconds but is 53 seconds enough to put me in a good position to defend my title? That`s the problem we`re having now. It`s whether I can get my racing legs back as quickly as possible," she said.
Christine was named in the 100-strong England athletics squad yesterday.
PTI
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