Head of Rio Games: Golfers skip because no money involved

The 2014 French Open finalist said that she had taken this decision “after several talks with doctors and my family”, while insisting that she couldn’t jeopardize her future family planning, Sport24 reported.

“This was a hard, personal choice and I do not wish for it to impact the decision of any other athlete heading to the Games”.

However, the 30-year-old revealed on Saturday that he will not feature in the Games due to uncertainty over the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which has been linked to severe defects in newborn babies.

Travel search engine KAYAK is lending a helping hand to the travellers by showing them how they can get value for money during their stay in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) for the Games.

Hours later, the Romanian Simona Halep, ranked number 5 on the WTA Tour, also made a decision to pull out on Friday.

“Family is much too important for me and I can’t risk not being able to have one of my own after my career in tennis is over”.

Tennis’ male No. 1 Novak Djokovic will represent Serbia at the Olympics, according to the official entry list released Friday, though he said at Wimbledon this month he still had concerns about Zika and was seeking more information about it.

On Twitter, he said “to limit health risks towards my dearest is the utmost priority”.

Their absence could be a setback for golf’s future in the Olympics.

Brazilian authorities expect more than 500,000 foreign tourists to visit Rio for the Olympic Games.

The 14-time grand-slam champion, victor of Olympic gold in Beijing eight years ago, did not meet the selection criteria as he had not played enough Davis Cup matches for his country.

However, he is still recovering from a left wrist injury which caused an early withdrawal from the French Open as well as forcing him to sit out Wimbledon.