South Africa’s Wayde Van Niekerk will miss the 2018 Commonwealth Games after suffering a knee ligament injury during a celebrity touch Rugby game.

Van Niekerk, the world and Olympic 400 metres champion, was planning on competing in the 100 and 200 metre events in Australia.

But he requires surgery after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament and suffering medial and lateral tears of the meniscus in the match in Cape Town.

The next Commonwealth Games take place on Australia’s Gold Coast between April 4 to 15