September 10, 2008	Wednesday	Ramazan 09, 1429

BEIJING, Sept 9: A Paralympic wheelchair race will be repeated even though the medal ceremony has already been held, Beijing Games organisers said Tuesday.

The women’s 5,000 metres on Monday evening saw a huge pile-up less than 100 metres from the finishing line, taking six athletes out of the race.

The incident involved all three medallists from the 2004 Athens Paralympics — Japan’s Wakako Tsuchida, Switzerland’s Edith Hunkeler and Cheri Blauwet from the United States.

Only five athletes finished the race and the gold was awarded to Canada’s Diane Roy despite the incident and an appeal within the stipulated time limit.

A jury of appeal studied the video footage and decided the race should be repeated on Friday, said International Paralympic Committee athletics chairman Chris Cohen.

“There were six athletes who were taken out of the race because of the crash,” he said, adding that Wakako had been hospitalised following the incident.

“In the interests of fairness to all concerned, it was decided that the race should be held again.”

Explaining the fiasco of the medals already having been handed out, Cohen said there had been a lack of communication between the technical information centre, where protests are received, and the medal ceremonies department.— AFP