Gold Olympic medal diver Hu Jia on Wednesday quit the men's platform diving preliminary at the national diving championship, an Olympic qualifying event due to an eye illness and knee injury.

This has left doubts to whether the 24-year-old will represent China in next year's Olympic Games.

"He has no choice but quit the championship this time," said Zhou Jihong, an official with the Chinese diving team.

She continued to say Hu hasn't been training regularly since last year because he suffers retinal detachment that needs to be cured as soon as possible before rejoining the team.

"Fortunately, the swimming administration may grant wildcard qualifications to those like Hu after recovery", hinted Zhou.

But Hu is not sure how his health will be next year.

"I have suffered the knee injury for half a month since I resumed my training in April", the Guangdong diver said. "I would completely miss the Olympic opportunity provided I forced myself to compete this time."

Hu aggravated his injury Tuesday during the men's synchronized diving in Wuxi, south China's Jiangsu Province. When he competed, his both knees relapsed back to his original injury and the diver with his partner, Wu Jun, only finished 16th in the last round.

But even though Hu and his partner lost this competition, he still hopes to have a spot diving for China in the Olympic Games.
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(China Daily April 27, 2007)