Oz swimmer Ryan Napoleon desperate to compete at Commonwealth Games

MELBOURNE - Australian swimmer Ryan Napoleon is not concerned about security threats, and, is only worried about competing in the 2010 Delhi Commonwealth Games after spending thousands of dollars this month on a Court of Arbitration appeal against a three-month doping ban.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) cleared Napoleon to compete at the Games in Delhi, after being suspended for using a wrongly labelled asthma inhaler.

The CAS changed the dates of Napoleon’s three-month ban, imposed by governing body FINA, from June 15 to September 14 (Tuesday).

Napoleon spent tens of thousands of dollars this month on a Court of Arbitration appeal against a three-month doping ban so he would be eligible to race.

“I would be shattered. At the moment, from what I’ve heard, that’s not going to happen. I’m only going by what we’ve been told, and what we’ve been told is all positive. I don’t think we’re going to pull out,” The Courier Mail quoted him, as saying.

The Australian swimmers will have two security briefings before departing their Malaysian practice center, with team officials David Wilson and Bernard Savage sent to Delhi on Sunday to assess conditions.

The team was briefed last night and will hold a final meeting tomorrow evening before flying to Delhi.

Napoleon won four gold medals at the junior Commonwealth Games in Pune, two years ago, and is desperate to compete in the country again.

His father and uncle will be at the Games, along with a cousin who is married to an Indian and lives in Delhi. (ANI)