VALENCIA, March 9: Olympic decathlon champion Roman Sebrle was forced to withdraw from the heptathlon in the World Athletics Indoor Championships on Sunday after suffering a hamstring injury in the 60 metres hurdles.

The Czech pulled up after the second hurdle and had to be taken off the track on a stretcher.

Sebrle was lying in second place in the competition after four events, 136 points behind Bryan Clay of the United States.

Clay, who has finished second in the last two indoor world championships, won four of the first five events of the competition.

With two events left on Sunday, Clay led the standings on 4753 points, 326 clear of Krauchanka and 386 ahead of Dmitriy Karpov of Kazakhstan.—Reuters