Women’s doubles world No. 1 Sayaka Hirota will undergo surgery on her right knee immediately after the Tokyo Olympics, confirmed the 26-year old Japanese during an interview yesterday.
The surgery will keep her out of action for at least 6 months.
Hirota has been using a big and heavy knee brace to play her matches in the Olympics. She injured the ACL of her right knee (anterior cruciate ligament) during a training camp on 18 June.
In addition to the ACL tear, she also revealed that there were injuries to the meniscuses and the lateral collateral ligament.
She had given up hope on participating in the Olympics but based on the results of the MRI, rehabilitation was found to be possible. She couldn’t nevertheless train for two weeks after the injury.
Hirota and her partner Yuki Fukushima will face Chen Qing Chen and Jia Yi Fan of China in the quarter-finals.
