Iranian weightlifter Yousefi set to miss World Championships
Iranian superheavyweight prodigy Alireza Yousefi will be facing a race against time to return to full fitness for the upcoming World Weightlifting Championships – starting October 1 in Førde, Norway – as well as November’s Islamic Solidarity Games in Riyadh.
Two-time world junior champion Yousefi, 21, has been sidelined since undergoing a surgery in late January for a torn ligament and meniscus in his right knee.
“Alireza hasn’t started his weightlifting training yet, and is only doing general strength and conditioning work for now. We’ll have to see how his situation develops. With the world event just four months away, there’s a real chance he might miss the competition in Norway,” Ali Jabbari, a member of the Iranian coaching staff said this week.
Yousefi made his World Championships debut in style last year in Manama, Bahrain, where he grabbed a gold and a bronze medal.
The Iranian set a new Asian record of 262kg to beat fellow-Iranian Ali Davoudi to the clean & jerk gold in the +109kg contests, before a total tally of 456kg saw him finish behind Armenian Varazdat Lalayan and Davoudi.