Delhi belly scare makes Brit CWG gymnasts run!

Britain’s gymnastics body has decided to pull out its top names from next Commonwealth Games in Delhi, the Daily Telegraph reported on Wednesday. Strangely, it’s a fear of the tummy bug that prompted such a decision.

The move means Britain’s top trio Beth Tweddle, Louis Smith and Daniel Keatings will be absent. The artistic gymnastics competition at the event takes place from from October 4 to 8 and the rhythmic discipline from October 12 to 14, the latter finishing just three days before the start of the 2010 World Championships, which take place in Rotterdam.

"It’s not just the travel and jet lag but the potential for tummy bugs and diarrhoea that exists in making the trip," the paper quoted British Gymnastics’ performance director Eddie van Hoof, as saying. "We just cannot afford to take the risk when so much is at stake."

Jessica Ennis, world heptathlon champion, and marathon runner Paula Radcliffe have already pulled out of the Games. Ennis told the Daily Telegraph that the timing of the event would clash with her preparations for the World Indoor Championship and European Championship.