Dvorak loses fitness battle

Veteran Czech decathlete Tomas Dvorak has lost his battle to be fit for this year's World Championships in Japan. The three times world champion had been hoping to compete in his eighth world championship but failed to recover in time from a heel injury he sustained at an athletics meeting in Kladno at the end of June. The Czech Republic will still be represented in this year's decathlon event by Olympic-champion Roman Sebrle and Josef Karas.