Injured Yousefi to miss Islamic Solidarity Games
Iranian weightlifter Alireza Yousefi will not recover in time from knee surgery to compete at the Islamic Solidarity Games, Iran coach Ali Jabbari told ISNA on Monday.
The sixth edition of the multi-sport event will kick off on November 7 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The recovery process had already ruled the Iranian out of October’s IWF World Championships in Førde, Norway.
Two-time world junior champion Yousefi had to undergo treatment on his injured knee right after last December’s World Senior Championships in Manama, where the 21-year-old headlined Iran’s medal haul with a gold medal and a bronze in the superheavyweight contests.
Yousefi lifted 262kg to walk away with the ultimate prize in men’s 109kg clean & jerk event – shattering the Asian record in the process – before settling for the total bronze with 456kg, finishing behind Armenian Varazdat Lalayan (467kg) and fellow-Iranian Ali Davoudi (459kg).