Rudisha, Kiprop opt out of Commonwealth Games

CGames chiefs red-faced after ticket gaffe

NAIROBI, Feb 14, (AFP): Kenya’s 800 metres Olympic champion and world record holder David Rudisha and two-time Olympic 1,500m champion Asbel Kiprop will not seek selection for this year’s Commonwealth Games, team officials said Tuesday.

A total of 170 athletes have been invited for the one-day Kenyan trials in Nairobi on Saturday, during which the first three runners across the line will earn automatic qualification for the April 4-15 championships on Australia’s Gold Coast.

But with the Commonwealth Games coming at an unusual time in the track season, before the summer, athletes have been forced to chose between the event or continuing their preparations for the outdoor track season.

Kenyan team officials said both Rudisha and Kiprop have opted to focus on the season of lucrative Diamond League meetings which starts in Doha in May.

Others notable absentees include the world 10,000m silver medallist Geoffrey Kamworor, who is preparing to defend his world half marathon title in Valencia on March 24, while the women’s Olympic and world 1,500m champion Faith Chepngetich Kipyegon is expecting her first baby.

The women’s world half marathon defending champion, Peres Jepchirchir is also on maternity leave, but former women’s 800m champion Janeth Jepkosgei will make her return after the birth of her first child.

Kenya topped the medal table in athletics at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow with ten gold medals, ten silver and five bronze.

Tickets for the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games opening ceremony have been sent out with the wrong day on them, an error that red-faced Australian organisers admit is embarrassing.

Some 14,000 tickets for the showpiece event were printed with Thursday, April 4, when April 4 — the day for the ceremony — is a Wednesday.

“I was disappointed when Ticketek (the ticketing provider) informed us they had picked up the error,” Games chief Mark Peters told reporters late Tuesday.

“The ticketing process has gone really well and this is a glitch that none of us wanted.”

He said there were no plans to reprint them.

“It’s easily rectified in terms of we are going out to all individuals saying this is an absolutely valid ticket.”

Compounding the problems, the Gold Coast Bulletin reported further blunders Wednesday, with weightlifting, table tennis and triathlon tickets sent out with wrong times on them.

The Games are contested between nations that are members of the Commonwealth, a group of countries that were once part of the British Empire.

The 2018 event will be held in Australia’s Gold Coast in the country’s northeast from April 4 to 15, with thousands of athletes and support staff due to attend.