TOKYO, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Japan’s star figure skater Yuzuru Hanyu will miss the upcoming national championships in Osaka due to a right ankle injury, the Japan Skating Federation said on Thursday.
It will be the third straight time for the two-time Olympic champion to miss the nationals after a similar injury and a flu prevented him from participating in the two previous ones respectively.
The 24-year-old superstar said in a statement that he had done everything he could and he was very disappointed that he couldn’t make it to the nationals.
The All Japan Figure Skating Championships, held from Dec. 20 to 24, will also serve as a qualifier for the world championships next year. But the JSF would probably qualify Hanyu in another way, according to local media.
Hanyu twisted his right ankle in a fall in practice on Nov. 17 at the ISU Grand Prix Rostelecom Cup in Moscow.
He was told by doctors that he would need three weeks of rest and one month of rehabilitation to recover.
Despite the injury, he won the Rostelecom Cup, his second Grand Prix title this season, but was forced to withdraw from the Grand Prix Final held earlier this month in Vancouver, Canada.