Askari secured his place at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo in February.

He earned a place at the Olympics after standing first at the -75kg weight class ranking with 7702 points.

The total number of people tested positive for COVID-19 in Iran rose to 539,670 on Tuesday following the detection of 5,039 new cases since Monday.

The Health Ministry’s spokeswoman Sima Sadat Lari put the death toll from COVID-19 in Iran at 31,034, saying the disease has taken the lives of 322 patients over the previous 24 hours.