SEOUL (Reuters) – London Olympics vault champion Yang Hak-seon has ended his bid to make South Korea’s team for the Rio Games after failing to recover from a torn Achilles, Yonhap news agency reported on Friday. The 2011 and 2013 world champion, dubbed ‘God of Vault’ in Korea, had surgery in late March after suffering the injury during training but had been undergoing intensive rehab in the hope of claiming a place on Korea’s five-man team. The Korean Gymnastics Association gave him every chance to recover, even scheduling three additional trials this month to increase his chances, but on Friday the KGA said Rio was too soon and that he needed more time to get back to full health. “Yang’s current condition is not good enough to perform professional techniques. He is recovering but for him to come back to his normal condition some more period of treatment is needed,” Yonhap quoted the KGA as saying. “We have been notified that from a long-term perspective Yang has decided not to participate in the upcoming trials.”
(Reporting by Nataly Pak, writing by Peter Rutherford; Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
Reuters
