Men's 110 meters hurdles Olympic champion and world record
holder Liu Xiang said in Shanghai on Wednesday that his
long-awaited gold medal at world championships can come from Osaka
this September.
Liu, who will compete in his fourth world championships, has won
almost all major tournament gold medals except a world title. He
said that the time is ripe for him now.
"I won a bronze at Paris in 2003, a silver two years ago in
Helsinki. And this time, I think I can taste the gold medal because
I feel I am in a very good form," Liu said.
Liu made his world championships debut in the 2001 edition in
Edmonton, Canada, where the little known hurdler failed to qualify
for the finals.
He rose to fame in the Athens Olympic Games as he took the gold
medal in a world-record tying time of 12.91 seconds. The hurdler
has become China's No. sports star since.
In the 2005 Helsinki worlds, the hot-favored Liu was beaten by
France's Ladji Doucoure to the second place by mere a hundredth
second.
Liu stunned the world last year, when he broke the world record
with a time of 12.88 seconds in the Lausanne Grand Prix.
Liu's coach Sun Haiping is also confident that his disciple can
win in Osaka.
"We'll try to win there," Sun said. "We are just back from a
very successful winter training, which might be the best winter in
the past three years. He has maintained a very good form. His time
has always been kept around 13 seconds."
And most importantly, Osaka is a luck place for Liu, who just
won his fourth successive Osaka Grand Prix title there in a time of
13.14 seconds.
Liu said Liu ran the slow time in Osaka because he did not have
to run fast. "If he wanted, he was sure to run even faster. But
there were no strong rivals there. He can easily run 13 seconds
now."
(Xinhua News Agency?May 10, 2007)