Sport
Injury forces Robles out of Istanbul championships
Cuban hurdler Dayron Robles. PHOTO/AP
Olympic hurdles champion Dayron Robles will skip the world indoor championships in Istanbul this weekend because of a minor leg problem, a Cuban track official said Monday.
Robles is troubled by a “small bother in one leg” and doesn’t want to take any risks ahead of the London Olympics, said the official, who lacked the authority to discuss Robles’ condition publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
“It’s not anything serious,” the official said without giving details on the leg problem.
Robles was to return to Cuba on Tuesday to recover and continue preparing to defend his 2008 Olympic title in the 110-meter hurdles in London.
Robles is also the defending world indoor champion in the 60-meter hurdles, a title he won two years ago in Doha, Qatar, but he has struggled this year.
He was second at last month’s Birmingham Grand Prix, recording a time of 7.50 seconds compared to 7.40 seconds for Liu Xiang of China.
Days later he won the Stockholm Indoors in Sweden, but with the relatively slow time of 7.66 seconds. He also finished second at Duesseldorf, Germany.
