Ancic pulls out of Beijing

2008-08-05 15:32

Beijing - Olympic doubles bronze-medallist Mario Ancic has pulled out of the Beijing Games due to illness, dealing a blow to Croatia's hopes in the tournament, a report said on Tuesday.

The world number 28 will be replaced by Marin Cilic in the doubles line-up alongside Ivan Ljubicic, a top official told Xinhua news agency.

"Mario is ill, so he will be missing from the Beijing event," said Marina Mihelic, executive director of the Croatian Tennis Association and the country's team-leader here.

"But it will not affect other players, we still have a strong team in the Olympics and they are ready."

Ancic and Ljubicic claimed Croatia's second men's doubles bronze at Athens 2004, when they were ousted by eventual champions Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu. Goran Ivanisevic and Goran Prpic also took bronze in 1992.

World number 18 Ivo Karlovic, who downed top-ranked Roger Federer last week in Cincinnati, is their leading hope in the men's singles along with former top-10 player Ljubicic.

"Every team comes here to fight for the gold medal, they are expected to do their best. Our team won many bronze medals before, and this time I am sure that we will do better and it is possible. Our players will fight every point," Mihelic said.

- AFP