Men's moguls ace Sho Endo on Friday pulled out of this weekend's freestyle skiing World Cup meet in Akita Prefecture due to an injury injury.
Endo has hurt his lower back and in addition to the two-day World Cup meet at Lake Tazawa is also expected to sit out the Asian Winter Games getting underway in Sapporo on Sunday.
Japan coach Shigeru Kobayashi said Endo suffered the injury during official World Cup practice and showed symptoms similar to that of a slipped disc.
Endo will focus on rehabilitation and set his sights on appearing at the world championships in Spain next month.