REIGNING world 800m king Mbulaeni "Bullet" Mulaudzi is returning to training after being sidelined by a hamstring injury for eight months.

"I will be back at training before the end of this month, most likely on Thursday," said Mulaudzi, who has missed the 2011 Yellow Pages Series.

He will also miss the new Yellow Pages interprovincial series, which was launched by Athletics South Africa in Johannesburg yesterday.

The last time Mulaudzi competed was at the African senior track and field championships in Kenya in June last year, where he withdrew in the first round due to the injury.

"It's been frustrating to watch the brothers and sisters running while I'm being sidelined by injury," Mulaudzi said.

"I decided to take a long break to allow the injury to recover fully. I had a meeting with the medical team and they gave me a go-ahead to start training. I'm looking forward to returning to the track."

The first leg of the interprovincial championships will take place at Germiston Stadium on Saturday from 1pm.

South Africa's top athletics provinces will be eyeing the R100000 first prize up for grabs for the winning province in the new two-legged series.

Top athletes who will take part include Caster Semenya, Mapaseka Makhanya, Tebogo Masehla and LJ van Zyl.

ASA board member Hendrick Ramaala said: "We are excited that athletics is going back to the glory days where big-name athletes participated in our events."