Skating star Hanyu suffers ankle injury

TOKYO: Japan’s double Olympic figure skating champion Yuzuru Hanyu on Thursday pulled out of this month’s NHK Trophy because of an ankle ligament injury, just three months before the Beijing Games.

Hanyu, who is aiming to win his third straight Olympic title in February, said in a statement on the Japan Skating Federation’s website that he hurt his right ankle in a fall.

The NHK Trophy, taking place in Tokyo from November 12 to 14, was set to be his first competition of the Grand Prix season.

The 26-year-old said he was “very frustrated” at being forced to pull out but vowed to “get back on the ice quickly” — without saying when that would be.

Hanyu’s defence of his Olympic title in Pyeongchang in 2018 was almost scuppered by a ligament injury to the same ankle, suffered in a training accident just months before the Games began.