World champion Greene out of London Diamond League

LONDON (Reuters) - World champion Dai Greene has pulled out of the 400 metres hurdles at this weekend's Diamond League meeting in London in a bid to get fit to defend his title in Moscow next month.

Duane Solomon from the U.S. runs in front of Britain's Dai Greene and Andrew Osagie in the men's 600m event during the British Athletics International Match at the Emirates Stadium in Glasgow

The 27-year-old Briton, who has struggled with injury and illness all season, withdrew from last week's Monaco Diamond League meeting with an Achilles problem.

"World Champion @DaiGreene will not compete in London after failing to recover from a slight niggle in his leg. Main focus is now the Worlds!," his management company tweeted on Wednesday.

Greene beat Puerto Rico's Javier Culson to win the world title in Daegu in 2011. He finished fourth at last year's Olympics but has been struggling to find any form this year and took his first victory of 2013 at the British championships earlier this month.

"So disappointed that I'm having to withdraw from the Anniversary Games this weekend. Hopefully it will pay off at the world champs," Greene tweeted.

The world championships start on August 10.

(Writing by Alison Wildey; Editing by John Mehaffey)