NEW DELHI, 26 July 2010: World and Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker (Australia) has said he will take the competition at the Commonwealth Games 2010 Delhi very seriously, even though he will start as overwhelming favourite to win gold.

Hooker is second on the 2010 world rankings with a best clearance of 5.91m behind Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie (5.94m). England's Steve Lewis, who was seventh behind Hooker at last year's world championship in Berlin, has cleared only 5.50m this year and is likely to be Hooker’s main challenger.

Hooker, who is the Australian track and field team captain and is the defending champion, told the Australian media: “I'm still taking it very seriously. There's no way do I want to go to Delhi and have a poor result. It's going to be the one competition of the year where all the eyes of Australia are going to be on me.”