Chinese high jumper Zhang Guowei announces retirement

China's star high jumper Zhang Guowei has made the decision to retire, the 28-year-old athlete has confirmed.

"Sorry, I can't jump anymore, I've decided to retire," Zhang wrote on his Weibo, China's Twitter-like social media platform on Sunday, without disclosing further details surrounding his decision, reports Xinhua news agency.

Born in east China's Shandong Province, Zhang was well known for his playful style among track and field fans. In 2013, he cleared 2.32 meters to break Zhu Jianhua's 27-year-old national indoor record.

In 2015, Zhang recorded his personal best performance as he cleared the bar at 2.38m in the IAAF Diamond League, just 0.01m shy of the national record of 2.39m also held by Zhu. In the same year, Zhang also won the silver medal at the Beijing World Championships.

In recent years, however, Zhang struggled to regain his form following a series of injuries, including his failure to make it into the final round at Rio 2016.