Motamedi was Iran's only winner at last year's IWF World Championships when he took the under-102-kilogram title.

He was expected to put up a strong challenge to retain his title in Bogota in Colombia, which hosts the 2022 IWF World Championships from December 5 to 16, but cannot compete after tearing a muscle in his arm.

The 24-year-old was attempting a snatch of 177kg in an Iran Premier League contest when he was injured.

It led to criticism in the Iranian media of the national team coach Saeed Alihosseini who, according to a member of the Iranian Federation Technical Committee, should not have allowed Motamedi to attempt such weights with the IWF World Championships coming so soon.

But Alihosseini was not present at the Premier League competition and had, according to reports, advised against him attempting to snatch more than the 175kg he had been lifting in training.

Club coach Ali Jabari said he would take the blame for the injury, but pointed out that he was unaware that Motamedi had lifted no more than 175kg in training for Colombia.

"This incident is sad for all of us," said Jabari the Tarafdari website.

"I thank god that Rasoul did not dislocate his elbow.

"This has caused us mental and emotional distress.

"Rasoul misses the World Championships, but injuries are part of weightlifting and all weightlifters deal with it."

Motamedi posted totals at or around 400kg when he won world and continental titles at under-102kg last year and followed up with another Asian Championships victory this year at under-109kg.

He is expected to recover in time to compete in Paris qualifying competitions next year.

The highest early entries at 102kg in Bogota are from the European champion David Fischerov of Bulgaria, the Olympic champion Meso Hassona of Qatar, who is a reserve entry, Samvel Gasparyan of Armenia, and Motamedi.

Iran's other medal contenders in a team of 17 for Colombia - 10 men and seven women - include Rio 2016 Olympic champion Kianoush Rostami, who has not competed since April last year.

Rostami, 31, failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games after a controversial bomb-out and a mix-up over an entry deadline at two crucial qualifying competitions.

Sohrab Moradi, another champion in Rio who has since retired, also failed to qualify because of injuries during the qualifying period.

Iran was restricted to two male athletes in Tokyo, a result of past doping cases, and Motamedi is one of the nation's big hopes for Paris.

Others include the super-heavyweight Ali Davoudi, Rostami at under-89kg, the 2021 world silver medallist Mir Mostafa Javadi at under-81kg, and Reza Dehdar at under-102kg.

At the Asian Championships in Bahrain last month, Iran had its first ever female continental champion when Elham Hosseini, who competes in Bogota, won at under-81kg.