(AFP) Japan's world figure skating champion Shoma Uno will miss this week's season-ending World Team Trophy in Tokyo after failing to recover from an ankle injury, the Japan Skating Federation said Monday.

Uno had been set to headline Japan's team alongside women's world champion Kaori Sakamoto at the six-team competition, less than a month after retaining his world title in Saitama, north of Tokyo.

Uno twisted his ankle a week before the world championships and hurt it again on the eve of the event, but came through to win the title ahead of South Korea's Cha Jun-hwan and American 18-year-old "QuadGod" Ilia Malinin.

Japanese skating officials said Uno needed two more weeks to recover and would be replaced by Shun Sato for the World Team Trophy, which begins Thursday.

"I hurt my right ankle even more during the world championships but I tried my best to heal up and get ready for the World Team Trophy," Uno said in a statement.

"But I couldn't get back into the kind of shape needed for a competition, so it is with great regret that I've had to withdraw."

The World Team Trophy is held in Japan every two years, and this year features the United States, Canada, South Korea, France and Italy, as well as the host country.

Defending champions Russia were banned because of the war in Ukraine.

"Looking ahead to next season, I will devote myself to becoming a skater who can keep growing and who people will want to get behind," said Uno.