Tom Daley has been forced to withdraw from competing in the 10m platform event at the Commonwealth Games due to a hip injury.
The 23-year-old is Team England's poster boy for the diving programme and was the hot favourite to triumph in the competition on the Gold Coast, having previously won gold in the event in the 2010 and 2014 Games.
Last week Daley revealed that he had missed several weeks of training in the run-up to the Games due to a concussion, but now Team England have confirmed that he will be unable to defend his title due to a recurring hip problem.
"Despite resting over the weekend, ongoing medical issues alongside a further injury in the pool last week has resulted in Tom and his training team agreeing that he should not compete in the individual platform diving event," Team England said in a statement.
"The technical dives in the individual event put enormous physical strain on Tom's body. Due to prior illness and with his hips being the determining factor, some of the dives Tom was due to demonstrate in the individual event would be too dangerous and impactful on his body."
Daley added: "I am truly devastated not to be competing in the individual event. I have been training so hard for the Commonwealth Games, so this is a real disappointment for me."
As it stands, Daley will still compete in the 10m synchro event with partner Daniel Goodfellow on Friday.
Neil Wilkes
