Ethiopia's Olympic 5000m and 10000m champion Tirunesh Dibaba has withdrawn from the 5000m race at the 2009 Bislett Games on Friday due to a minor injury.
The 24-year old, who had been expected to return to action after finishing second behind Kenyan Masai in her season's debut race in New York six weeks ago, aggravated a minor leg injury during training on Tuesday and thus will not make her long-awaited return to competition.
"I did a speed session on the track on Tuesday and felt a slight pain in my leg," Tirunesh told her website www.tiruneshdibaba.net. "I hope it is nothing serious, but I did not want to risk my chances of successfully defending my world 10000m title in Berlin next month."
Message boards on www.tiruneshdibaba.net have been inundated with good will message for Tirunesh Dibaba who had been out of action for more than six months before her return to action in New York. "I would like thank all my fans for the get well messages," she said. "I want to return to action and make everyone of you very happy."
After taking a few days off, Tirunesh will continue her training this week, but has not decided on her next competition outing.
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