TEHRAN – Olympic gold medalist Hassan Yazdani tore the meniscus in his knee during the training for the 2019 World Wrestling Clubs Cup held in Bojnurd, northeast of Iran.

He tore the meniscus in his knee and will get an MRI on Saturday to determine the extent of the injury.

“I previously had a partial tear in my meniscus but this time it forced me to miss the competition,” Yazdani said.

“Fortunately, it is not as long as expected and I think I will come back after one month because I want to hoist our flag in the Olympic once again,” he added.  

Yazdani will most likely miss 40th Takhti International Wrestling Cup which will be held in Kermanshah from Jan. 8 to 10.

He has already secured his place at the 2020 Olympic Games.

Yazdani is an Olympic and World Champion in freestyle wrestling in two weight categories. He became Olympic champion in the 74kg category at the 2016 Summer Olympics after defeating Russian wrestler Aniuar Geduev in the final. The following year he became World Champion at the 2017 World Wrestling Championships in the 86 kg category.

He has won two world championships gold medals (2017 Paris, 2019 Nur-Sultan) so far and one gold in 2018 Asian Games.

Yazdani has also won a gold medal at the 2014 Junior World Championships in Zagreb, Croatia.