110m hurdles world record holder Liu Xiang will lead the Chinese
star attractions at the upcoming Doha Asian Games next month. The
official website of the Doha Asiad posted an article Sunday.
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China's world record hurdler Liu Xiang has been told to stay
focused if he wants to retain his Asian Games title at Doha
2006.
The 23 year-old Athens Olympic champion, who set a new 110m
world record of 12.88 in Lausanne in July this year, is looking to
round off his record-breaking season in style with a second Asian
Games gold in Doha.
Despite starting as overwhelming favorite, coach Sun Haiping is
warning there can be no slacking for the Chinese superstar.
"It's the end of the season but we still have to work hard,"
said Sun, who is warning Liu not to be complacent in his
preparation for the high hurdles crown.
He added: "If I have to, I will make Liu train until his head
spins."
Liu is one of the big names heading for Doha but hasn’t been in
record-breaking form as his season comes to a close.
"If the Asian Games were to take place tomorrow Liu would
probably win in about 13.10 seconds," the 51 year-old coach told
the Beijing News.
That sort of time would be two-tenths of a second faster than
the Asian Games record he set as a 19 year-old in Busan, South
Korea in 2002, but Sun wants him to put in a performance worthy of
a world No 1 ¨C and knows nothing can be taken for granted.
Less than a month after breaking his world record in July, Liu
dropped to No 2 in the International Association of Athletics
Federations (IAAF) world rankings ¨C and only returned to the top
after winning the IAAF World Athletics Final in September.
Prior to this season Xiang had shared the previous world record
of 12.91 with British sprinter Colin Jackson, who held the record
since 1993.
(CRIENGLISH.com November 7, 2006)
