Triple Paralympic gold medallist, world champion and Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) athlete Peter Leek has been forced due to illness to withdraw from the Australian team for the coming 2010 Commonwealth Games which start in Delhi early next month.

The 21-year-old, who recently returned from the IPC World Championships in the Netherlands in August with six gold medals and one silver medal, has been battling glandular fever for the last three weeks, which had affected his preparation for the Games. 

Leek has been training under the guidance of AIS/Paralympic coach Graeme Carrol at the AIS in Canberra, where he was preparing for the Games. 

He says it has been difficult training and preparing for the Commonwealth Game as he would have liked, but his long-term focus remains on qualifying for the London 2012 Paralympic Games.

’It’s disappointing not to be going to Delhi, but it’s a decision I’ve made based on my health at the moment and the long-term plan of performing well at the Paralympics in London in 2012,’ said Leek.

’I was really happy with the way I swam at the IPC World Champs, and while I’m recovering well from the glandular fever, I’m not nearly as prepared as I should be, and have made the decision not to go.’

His AIS coach supports Leek’s decision to withdraw from the Games. 

’Peter broke three world records at the IPC World Champs, but didn’t feel right at the end of the meet, and hasn’t been well since,’ said Carroll.

“He finished that meet as the number one swimmer in the world in his classification, and while he won’t get to swim in Delhi, the focus really has to be on London and doing everything we can to ensure he can swim just as well there.'

The law student, who has cerebal palsy, was among Australia’s strong medal chances for the Commonwealth Games, along with AIS team-mate Matthew Cowdrey.

Cowdrey will join Ben Austin, Blake Cochrane, Matthew Cowdrey, Andrew Pasterfield, Ellie Cole and Annabelle Williams in preparing to represent Australia in ten men’s  and women’s swimming events at the Games.

Leek won a total of eight medals at the Beijing Paralympics (3 gold, 4 silver, 1 bronze) and won a record six gold medals at the IPC Swimming Championships.

The now 52-strong Australian Swim Team will leave for an Australian training camp based in Kuala Lumpur this Friday 24 September before arriving in Delhi on Friday 29 September.