LONDON - World 3,000 metres steeplechase record holder and double world champion Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar will miss August's world championships in Japan because of a knee injury, his management company said on Tuesday.

Saif Saaeed Shaheen of Qatar wins the men's 3000 metres steeplechase race during the Brussels Golden League athletics meeting (Memorial Ivo Van Damme) at the King Baudouin stadium in Brussels August 25, 2006. [Reuters]

"I am disappointed not to get a chance to make it three world titles in a row but I have to be sensible and let my knee rest so that I can prepare for the Olympic Games next year," the 24-year-old Kenyan-born Shaheen said in a statement released by PACE Sports Management.

He had planned to compete in the steeplechase and 5,000 metres at Osaka but has been unable to train properly, the statement said.

Shaheen set the steeplechase world record of 7:53.63 in 2004. He expects to resume full training later this season.