It has been confirmed that Iranian Olympic gold medalist Sohrab Moradi will travel to Germany for back surgery.
According to Iran’s Sports Medicine Federation, Moradi will be out of competition for six to nine months, which could have serious implications for his Tokyo 2020 Olympic qualification hopes.
Moradi must get a result in at least one qualifying competition during the second qualification period (May to October 2019). If he is unable to compete for the whole six-month period, he will be out of qualification contention. Our Tokyo 2020 Qualification Guide explains why.
Iran is limited to two male weightlifters at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics due to anti-doping violations and all nations are limited to one athlete per weight category. Moradi faces stiff competition in the -96 kg category from Kianoush Rostami, who put in a strong performance at the recent Fajr cup qualifier. Moradi will likely need to not only return to competition but also perform strongly enough to gain selection ahead of Rostami.
