PROMISING young athlete Malcolm Hassan's hopes of winning an athletics scholarship in the United States have been hit by the return of a mystery illness.

The 18-year-old Sunderland Harrier thought he had overcome the trouble which has dogged his athletics career for the past 18 months when he accepted an invitation to compete as a guest in the US High School Indoor Championships in Manhattan.

But after arriving in New York after a tiring flight he was again laid low. The former AAA Under-17 1500m champion was put on medication, but left his sickbed to run in the 800m - with disastrous consequences.

Hassan led for three laps and then, believing the race was finished when there was still one circuit to complete, dropped out.

He said: "I didn't feel well at all - I still felt dizzy and I couldn't focus properly.

"I thought I had finished the race and I didn't realise I had another lap to do. I just wasn't thinking at all."

Hassan collapsed and was physically sick as championship organisers tried to give him attention and he was forced to leave the arena. Now back on Wearside he said: "I feel better now and I'm just determined to get over this and get back to my best, no matter how long it takes."

Hassan was the AAA Under-17 and British Schools 1500m champion and the fastest under-17 800m in the UK before returning with an illness from a family holiday in Portugal in 1999 and has been seeing a specialist since collapsing with respiratory problems while competing for Sunderland Harrier in the North of England Road Relay Championships later that year