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S’pore events hit by star withdrawals

SINGAPORE — Two upcoming world-class sports events in Singapore have been hit by withdrawals of their top stars because of injuries.

Media reports said Manaudou injured his wrist while doing weights in Marseille. Photo: Getty Images

Media reports said Manaudou injured his wrist while doing weights in Marseille. Photo: Getty Images

SINGAPORE — Two upcoming world-class sports events in Singapore have been hit by withdrawals of their top stars because of injuries.

Reigning men’s 50m freestyle Olympic champion Florent Manaudou has pulled out of this weekend’s Singapore leg of the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup at the OCBC Aquatic Centre, while tennis world No 1 Serena Williams has announced that she will not be competing in the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore at the end of this month (Oct 23-Nov 1).

The news of Manaudou’s withdrawal came yesterday after the 24-year-old Frenchman did not fly into Singapore as scheduled.

The FINA/airweave World Cup organising committee subsequently issued a statement that Manaudou “did not arrive as scheduled” yesterday. It later released another statement to say that it had received the official withdrawal of Manaudou.

“The organising committee of the FINA/airweave Swimming World Cup Singapore 2015 presented by Yakult has received the official withdrawal of Florent Manaudou from his national federation, Federation Francaise de Natation, due to an injury,” the statement read.

According to foreign media reports, Manaudou had injured his wrist while doing weights in Marseille. Citing French sports newspaper L’Equipe, swimming website SwimSwam said: “According to L’Equipe, Jacques Favre, France’s National Technical Director, received the news in a phone call from Manaudou’s coach, Romain Barnier today.

“While Barnier didn’t sound super alarmed, he did say that Manaudou, with his wrist in a splint, will be unable to use his arms for the next two to three weeks.”

Manaudou has been piling up a series of strong swims leading up the Olympics, including three gold medals (50m free, 50m fly, 4x100m free) at the FINA World Championships in Kazan in August. Other world-class stars who are pencilled in for the World Cup include American four-time Olympic champion Missy Franklin and Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, who holds multiple world records.

Barely an hour after the news of Manaudou broke, wire agencies reported that Williams had decided to skip the China Open and the WTA Finals and end her season because of injuries. Williams won her fifth WTA Finals singles title last year when the event was held at the Indoor Stadium for the first time.

“It’s no secret I’ve played injured most of the year — whether it was my elbow, my knee, or, in the final moments after a certain match in Flushing, my heart,” she was quoted as saying in media reports.

“I’m a fierce competitor. And I want to compete as well as I can, for as long as I can. So I am taking a proactive step and withdrawing from tournaments in Beijing and Singapore to properly address my health and take the time to heal ... I plan to return to practising and participating in exhibition matches later this year. And when I do, l will focus, and focus, and focus so I can continue my journey in this beautiful game.”

It is believed that Williams’ loss in the US Open semi-final to unheralded Roberta Vinci of Italy had also taken its toll on her.

William’s coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, had recently questioned if his player was in the right frame of mind to see out the season. “I don’t think she should play if the motivation is not really high,” he had said.

Last night, WTA president Mickey Lawler said the WTA Finals will miss Williams but that her health has to be her top priority.

Said Lawler: “Serena’s health has to be her No 1 priority. The risk of injury is a reality in the world of elite athletic performance.”

But she added: “We have a superb line-up of top players already qualified, and still in contention for qualification ... so fans can expect more outstanding, world-class competition on the court again this year.”

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