TEHRAN – Iran's Olympic gold medalist Sohrab Moradi will undergo spinal surgery, Gholamreza Norouzi, Iran's Sports Medicine Federation, announced.

According to Norouzi, Moradi will be sidelined for between six to nine months.

Moradi cannot take part at the Fajr Weightlifting Cup and he will also miss 2019 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Ningbo, China. Both competitions will serve as the 2020 Summer Olympics qualifiers.

 Moradi will likely miss the 2019 World Weightlifting Championships in Pattaya, Thailand in September.

“He needs to rest at least for between six to nine months but we will try to prepare him for the Olympics qualifications,” Norouzi said.

Moradi broke weightlifting's longest standing world record on his way to gold in the men's 94kg class at the 2018 Asian Games.

He lifted 189kg in the opening discipline to better the snatch record set at 188kg in 1999 by Greece's Akakios Kakiasvilis.