Marcos and Maria forced out of tennis medal hunt

Marcos Baghdatis and Maria Sharapova have both withdrawn from the Olympic tennis tournament with injury.

Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open finalist, has a problem with his wrist, while former Wimbledon champion Sharapova is struggling with a shoulder injury.

Sharapova today spoke of her distress at having to pull out admitting: "This makes me more sad than anything".

Doctors have advised the world number three that she will need time away from the game to let the injury heal, which also puts in doubt Sharapova's chances of playing in the US Open in three weeks time.

"This is something that needs a lot of time to heal, which really hurts me to say that I have to miss the Olympics," she said.

Sharapova said her shoulder had been troubling her since she played at Indian Wells in March and she was today in New York having the injury examined further.

Cypriot Baghdatis had been considered one of his nation's 12-strong team's strongest medal chances but will now be out of action for at least four weeks and will also miss the US Open.