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Fri, 08 Apr 1994

JP/Big names missing from world's richest run

Big names missing from world's richest run

JAKARTA (JP): China's great Ma's Army talents and Morocco Olympic gold medalist Khalid Skah have opted to miss the excitement of this Sunday's 10-kilometer road race, leaving defending champion Addis Abebe the lone star in the world's richest run.

Executive chairman of the committee, B. Chaidir, said yesterday the Chinese women's trio of Wang Junxia, Qu Yunxia and Ma Ningning withdrew from the race for undisclosed reasons.

"We are very sorry that the three runners failed to make their debut at the road race," Chaidir quoted Huang Zhi, secretary general of the Chinese track and field association, as saying.

Wang, who won the 1994 Jesse Owens Award for her 10,000-meter and 3,000-meter world records set last year, 3,000-meter world champion Qu and Ma registered themselves for the seventh edition of the annual event in February. They were scheduled to arrive here on Wednesday evening,

Chaidir said that Huang was also sorry to announce the withdrawal at the last minute.

"We are very disappointed that the Chinese runners won't come," Chaidir said. He added that the organizers had earlier asked for clarification of the cancellation from the Chinese track and field body after seeing that Wang and company did not turn up on Wednesday as scheduled.

Wang, who holds the world 10,000-meter track record of 29 minutes and 31.78 seconds is expected to break England's Elizabeth McColgan's five-year-old road race best time of 30:38 on Sunday. The organizers offered a whopping US$500,000 in cash for either a men's or women's runner who can set a new world record.

Tournament promoter Ray Flynn said that the 10,000-meter Olympic gold medalist Skah is nursing a leg injury he suffered just one day before his departure for the race.

"I heard of Skah's plan to miss the race on Tuesday, but I had to confirm his withdrawal with his wife," Flynn said.

Skah was the only other favorite to win the winner's $25,000 cash prize and the enormous bonus sum besides Abebe. Skah beat Abebe in 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. (amd)