South African radiant sprinter Bayanda Walaza has pulled out of the 20th World Athletics Championships set to get underway this Saturday in Tokyo, Japan, due to an injury.

South Africa’s team officials were forced to make the tough decision after the under-20champion and Olympics silver medallist over 100 m failed to recover in time for the global championships.

It’s understood as per the SABC,that the red-hot Walaza picked up a hamstring injury at the Diamond League final in Zurich last month that prevented him from making his debut at the World Championships this year at the senior level.

His withdrawal is a major upset, as he was a member of the 4x100m men’s and 100m individual races for the Tokyo Championships and has been replaced by Retshidisitswe Mlenga.