Van Commenee backs Ohuruogu

Christine Ohuruogu has been tipped to shine at next month's IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul by UK Athletics chief Charles van Commenee.

Ohuruogu was named as part of the Great Britain & Northern Ireland women's 4x400 metres squad on Tuesday and Van Commenee believes the 2008 Olympic gold 400m medallist is back to her best.

"I've seen a lot of her in training and it's definitely better than she's been doing over the past few years," he said. "She deserves a selection almost without much thinking because she's definitely in that group. I think she's been under the radar but that's more in terms of publicity and not of the head coach."

Van Commenee revealed he wants to use the event, which runs from March 9 to 11, to test relay combinations ahead of the Olympics.

"We want to do very well in London with the 4x400m women's team," he said.

"This is a really good opportunity to get the girls together and see how we are off the three nations that usually dominate the event, the US, Russia and Jamaica.

"We want to be closer and it's important to have the athletes together who have to do the damage half a year from now."

Outdoor 5,000m world champion Mo Farah is also set to compete in Turkey over 3,000m while Jessica Ennis will be looking to defend her pentathlon crown.

Self-coached sprinter Dwain Chambers will be hoping to defend his indoor 60m title during the event but triple-jumper Phillips Idowu and long-jumper Chris Tomlinson have decided not to compete.

Middle-distance runners Jenny Meadows and Hannah England and sprinter Jeanette Kwakye will also not compete.

Copyright (c) Press Association Ltd. 2012, All Rights Reserved.