LONDON, September 13 (RIA Novosti) - Russian billionaire and Chelsea FC owner Roman Abramovich failed in an attempt to conquer Mount Kilimanjaro, The Sunday Times reported.

The 42-year-old tycoon invited a group of six friends to conquer the 19,330ft summit of Africa's highest mountain last week. However, the expedition had to be cancelled at 15,100ft after Abramovich seemed to have developed the symptoms of altitude sickness and needed medical attention, the paper said.

"We were not given a reason for his failure to reach the peak, but there are reports from his team that he developed some breathing problems," the paper quoted Pascal Shelutete, a spokesman for the Tanzania National Parks Authority, as saying.

According to Shelutete, Abramovich's party, who flew in on the oligarch's private Boeing 767, decided to climb the mountain at the western breach, which is the most difficult approach, the paper said.

The Abramovich group, which is believed to include Guus Hiddink, the Dutch trainer of the Russian national football team, apparently failed to train properly to cope with the altitude, the paper said.