A heavy blow to one of the world's greatest judokas, Frenchman Teddy Riner, who withdrew today (Monday) from the world championships to be held next month in Uzbekistan, due to an ankle injury.
Riner, a 10-time world champion and three-time Olympic gold medalist, was injured during a training camp in Rabat, and will not be fit in time for this year's important competition in Tashkent, which opens on October 6.
"Oh my, I was afraid of this, but the medical tests done today confirmed that I will not be able to train for several weeks, which prevents my participation in the World Championships," Reiner wrote on Twitter.
The judoka is targeting his home Olympic Games in 2024, where the 33-year-old athlete dreams of winning one last gold.
"Two years from the Olympic Games, I can't take any risks," he added.
The senior French judoka, holds the highest number of world titles in the history of the sport.
He had to settle for bronze at the Tokyo Olympics a year ago, but was able to help the national team win gold in the team competition.
It should be remembered, Riner has not participated in a world championship since 2017. In July, he returned to compete for the first time since the Olympics, with a victory in the Grand Slam in Hungary.
were we wrong
We will fix it!
If you found an error in the article, we would appreciate it if you shared it with us
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/S7UVDTX7DREC7DXVCZN6MEKGBY.jpg)
