INCHEON, South Korea - Chinese swimming superstar Sun Yang will not compete in the men's 4x200m freestyle relay event scheduled for Monday evening, his coach said.

"Sun will not race in the 4x200m relay tonight," Zhang Yadong told Xinhua.

Zhang didn't give any explanations, but a source close to the Chinese swimming team say that Sun need to rest after he was edged into second place by Japan's Kosuke Hagino in the men's 200m freestyle final Sunday evening.

Sun slowed down in the last few meters as the trio, which also included South Korea's Park Tae-hwan, headed to the finish neck-and-neck. Sun blamed his defeat on a hand injury.

"My hand hurt towards the end, so I couldn't speed up," said the 22-year-old.