Boxing: Injury curtails Haye's golden dream

England's hopes of winning a boxing gold medal suffered a serious setback yesterday when it was revealed that current world silver medallist David Haye has been advised to withdraw from the tournament.

Haye injured his right arm last Friday when he stopped Pakistan's Shaukat Ali in three rounds and after a painful night's rest he flew to London for treatment.

He was examined at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital on Saturday evening by eminent orthopaedic consultant Mr Andy Williams and he underwent an MRI scan.

The injury to the arm was diagnosed as a tear in the muscle and he was advised that if he fights tomorrow in the quarter-final he risks rupturing the tear and causing lasting and serious damage.

Ironically, as Haye was flying secretly to London on Saturday members of his family and friends were driving to Manchester because they believed he was boxing on Sunday.

Haye will fly back to Manchester today with detailed results of the examination and the MRI scan and will meet with Team England doctors. Haye is understood to be inconsolable at the prospect of not winning the gold but there is clearly no way that he will be able to continue since he will need to win three more fights.

Haye, 21, is the accomplished boxer in the team and is arguably one of England's most high profile Commonwealth Games competitors. Part of the reason for the media interest in him, which has been unprecedented for an amateur boxer, is that during the last two years he has refused offers in excess of £500,000 to turn professional from one of the sport's leading promoters.

At last year's World Championships in Belfast Haye beat three world-ranked boxers before losing in the final to Cuba's Odlandis Solis but in reaching the final he became the first British boxer in 30 years to do so. Haye had already sold 100 tickets for this Saturday's finals in Manchester.

Yesterday at the Wythenshawe Forum England's Matthew Marsh was knocked out in round two by South Africa's Nzimeni Msutu and his head struck the canvas with a sickening thud.

Marsh, 19, had been dropped in the opening round and when he went down in the second the emergency medical services immediately entered the ring to assist with his recovery. He was able to stand and leave the ring but he was taken briefly to Hope Hospital in Salford for a standard check-up. However, at last night's boxing he was back in the audience watching the continuation of the tournament.

In the final bout England's welterweight, Danny Happy, met teenage Welshman, Anthony Doherty, in a much-anticipated fight for many experts.

It was relatively calm for two rounds and Happy was comfortable circling the ring and picking off Doherty with and accurate and often powerful left jab. It all changed dramatically in round three. Doherty began two points down but finished the round 12 ahead, and in the final round he maintained his lead to triumph 33-22.

The boxers conducted their business in a sporting manner but sadly their fans did not, and there followed a disturbance outside the forum.