Ladji Doucoure to sit out meet in northern France

Ladji Doucoure (Photo by Martin Rose/Bongarts/Getty Images)Photo Gallery>>(BEIJING, June 26) -- French hurdler Ladji Doucoure will not attend a meeting in the north of France on June 27. This is his second time to drop out of competition since reappearing June 15. Doucoure experienced a pain in his left knee during hurdles training and decided to avoid aggravating a previous injury by forgoing competition.

Doucoure has been plagued by injuries since overcoming Liu Xiang and Allen Johnson in the 2005 Golden League meeting where he took the world championship. After suffering another injury at an invitational this January, he missed the opportunity to attend the World Indoor Championships.

After several months of recovery training, Doucoure's leg had healed enough to return to competition. On June 15 he reappeared at a meeting in France, competing against opponents such as Dayron Robles of Cuba who had just broke the world record for the 110m hurdles. Robles took the championship with Doucoure coming in fourth place. Doucoure's time of 13.64 seconds was his personal lowest since 2003.

Doucoure is currently preparing for the Summer Olympics in Beijing. His injury is a significant setback to the French national team.