Sydney, Aug 19 (IANS) Triple Olympic gold medallist Stephanie Rice will be avoiding a shoulder surgery to take part in the New Delhi Commonwealth Games in October.
It comes as a good news for the organisers after star athletes Usain Bolt, Shelly Ann Fraser, Chris Hoy, Lleyton Hewitt and Samantha Stosur have already decided to give New Delhi a miss.
Rice revealed that surgery is looking ‘very possible’ but she would try to avoid it to compete in the Games. She is currently competing at the Pan Pacific Championships in California and has cut down on her schedule from seven events to three due to the shoulder injury.
‘Surgery is looking very possible at this point in time and I am obviously just trying to put it off,’ Rice was quoted as saying by the Sydney Morning Herald Thursday.
‘The current plan is to battle on, compete in Delhi, and then immediately have surgery after the Commonwealth Games and aim for the 2011 national trials in April and the 2012 London Olympics,’ she added.
The triple Beijing Olympic gold medallist is suffering from an inflamed bursar and has had seven cortisone injections in the shoulder – three more than what doctors prescribe in general cases – in the hope of getting her through India for the Commonwealth Games.
