BUNGEI TO MISS WORLD INDOOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
By David Monti
(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved. Used with permission.

Reigning IAAF World Indoor 800m champion, Wilfred Bungei of Kenya, has been
forced to withdraw from this weekend's IAAF World Indoor Championships with an
injury.

"During his workout yesterday in Nairobi, Wilfred felt some pain while doing
some faster strides," said Eric Lilot of Demadonna Athletics Promotions, the
Italian athlete management firm which represents Bungei. "He stopped immediately
and applied ice. This morning, however, he still had some pain while jogging so
has decided to skip Valencia."

Bungei, 27, who has an outdoor personal best of 1:42.34, was enjoying a solid
indoor season this year. He finished second to Olympic champion Yuriy
Borzakovskiy twice at the beginning of this season, won his race in Valencia on Feb. 9,
then came back to defeat Borzakovskiy in Stockholm on Feb. 21.

"He was quite confident in medaling after his last race and win in Stockholm,
which obviously gave him even more assurance, seen as that he was able to hold
off a great finisher like Borzakovskiy," added Lilot.

In Moscow in 2006, Bungei defeated South African Mbulaeni Mulaudzi by just
1/1000th of a second. Borzakovskiy, the home country favorite, got the bronze.