Sasson: "I will come back from my injury stronger and hungrier"

“Life throws unexpected things at you. There's never really a good time for injuries—but if I had to get injured, then now’s actually the time. It’s right after the Olympic Games and in a year when I wasn’t planning to compete much anyway,” said Olympic bronze medalist Ori Sasson to Sport 5, after injuring his knee. He is expected to be sidelined for at least six months. To the article

As reported by the Sports Channel, Sasson injured the cruciate ligament in his knee and will have to undergo surgery. As a result, he will not start 2017, will be absent from the European Championships in April, and will likely miss the World Championships in August. In the next two days, he will make a decision together with Oren Smedja, the men's team coach, and Nimrod Moshe, the team's physiotherapist, where he will undergo the surgery, with the surgery likely to be performed in Israel in the coming month.

"I'm optimistic that I'll come back stronger," Sasson clarified. "During the rehabilitation period with Nimrod (Moshe, SA) I'll strengthen the weaker parts of me, for example my upper body. One of the reasons I lost to Teddy Riner, for example, was that I was less strong than him. So I can get stronger, load

"In weights. It takes time to recover from an Olympic medal, so I will use this time to build myself up and come back very hungry for judo."