Crates puts off retirement plans

Former Paralympic champion Danny Crates has played down talk of retirement despite being hit by another injury.

Crates, 36, pulled up in the middle of Sunday's 800m race at the BT Paralympic World Cup in Manchester after suffering a hamstring problem.

"I had in the back of my mind that this might be my last season," the Essex athlete told BBC Sport.

"But it was different when I got on the track. I love racing and I don't think I can think about not doing it."

Crates, who lost his right arm in a car accident in Australia in 1994, carried the British flag at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Paralympics last September but was unable to defend his T46 800m crown because of a calf injury.

His preparations for the World Cup were also affected by leg problems, but he was sure he had shaken them off.

"Although I have had a hamstring problem and didn't have the best build-up, I was well over it," he added.

"I've had so many years of feeling the stress and pressure of competition and people expecting me to do well, but I tried to relax myself a bit and enjoy it.

"I've been struggling since Beijing getting my head around what happened there but I felt good coming into the race and as soon as I put the GB vest on again for the first time in two years, I felt great.

"I was strong over the first 600m or so and felt like I could take the race on but then I felt the hamstring pulling and within 10 or 15 metres I felt it go and that was it.

"It's frustrating because I have already had four weeks out and I will probably miss another four weeks of action while I recover.

"But I definitely want to compete at the Crystal Palace meeting in July - racing in front of a home crowd is where I love to run."

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