After sustaining an injury during the World Championships in Doha, Dimitrij OVTCHAROV underwent a successful minor endoscopic procedure on his cervical spine on Monday.
“According to the surgeon, the short procedure went very well. He removed the disc tissue that was pressing on the nerve,” explained the former world number one. “I can now immediately begin the rehabilitation process.”
Severe neck pain radiating down to his wrist had affected the six-time Olympic medalist so badly in Qatar that he was unable to compete in the singles event after using the doubles match as a test run.
As a result, the 2017 World Cup winner has had to withdraw from both the upcoming German Table Tennis Finals in Erfurt during the long Whitsun weekend, as well as the WTT tournaments in Skopje and Zagreb later in June.