TEHRAN – Iranian super heavyweight weightlifter Bahador Molaei has announced his retirement on Tuesday.

Molaei suffered "serious and potentially life-threatening injuries" in the crash involving a car  in July 2016 in the northern city of Amol, Mazandaran province.

Molaei’s grandfather was killed in that accident and he was undergone surgery with surgical hip dislocation.

Molaei was going back to his home from a ceremony for seeing off Iranian athletes departing for Rio Olympics and Paralympics.  

The weightlifter, who has never participated in an Olympic Games, claimed a silver medal in the 2013 World Weightlifting Championships.

Molaei has also claimed two silver medals in 2011 Asian Weightlifting Championships in China and 2015 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Thailand.

Furthermore, Molaei snatched a silver at the 2013 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXVII Summer Universiade, in Kazan, Kazakhstan.