BEN FLETCHER has been forced to withdraw from the World Judo Championships due to an elbow injury.
The Wokingham ace, who now represents Ireland, was due to travel to Baku, Azerbaijan, later this month looking to build on an impressive year so far.
Fletcher, 26, has won bronze at the Antalya Grand Prix in April, silver in Dusseldorf and golds in both Tunis and the Irish Open in Dublin in 2018 already.
But now the Olympian will be forced to watch on from afar and continue his recovery from the injury suffered last month.
Taking to Instagram, Fletcher said: “The elbow injury I have sustained means for the next month or so I’m going to have to take everything very easy and let my elbow and body recover.
“That means no World Championships for me this year.
“It’s obviously awful timing and as you can imagine has been really difficult to deal with.
“I should hopefully be back for the tournaments at the end of the year and will be making the most of the enforced rest I am stuck with at the moment.
“Big shout out to the people who have been messaging me and checking on progress. It really means a lot.”