Liu Xiang eyes only a medal at Helsinki athletics worlds  

France's Ladji Doucoure thrilled the home crowd with a win in the 110-meter hurdles Friday at the Gaz de France track meet, beating four-time world champion Allen Johnson and Chinese star Liu Xiang. (Agencies)

Chinese star hurdler Liu Xiang is unlikely to add the world title to the Olympic champion in next month's world athletics championships in Helsinki because he is "not in a good shape", his coach Sun Haiping said on Thursday.

The 22-year-old Liu became China's super star No. 1 after winning the men's 110mhurdlesin a world-record tying 12.91 seconds in Athens last year, which was the country's first-ever Olympic gold from men's athletics.

A victory in Helsinki is sure to add more value to his heroic image and consolidate his status in the Chinese sports history since Chinese men have never won a gold in the track and field worlds.

But it looks more and more unlikely for him to bring the gold from Helsinki, and it will be not too bad to win the silver, his long-time coach Sun said.

"Liu Xiang is not as strong as before travelling to Athens for the Olympic Games last year," he said. "At that time, he was ready to create miracles in Athens. But now he is not in a good form."

The Shanghai native felt very tired after racing in five events in the United States and Europe. He lost in two Golden League meets in Paris and Rome, where he finished third and second respectively.

Mentally and physically exhausted, he gave up the original plan to run all five stages of the Golden League, returning home after the Rome race to focus all his attention on the world championships, which will be held from August 6 to 14.

"He has not had systematic training in the first half of the year, so it's hard for him to build up confidence racing against the world's top hurdlers," Sun said.

Sun revealed that Liu Xiang was also plagued with a minor knee injury in the last few months, which prevented him from running his best.

But after returning to Beijing from Rome on July 9, Liu Xiang has made steady improvement on his form. "He has been recovering very well and training very hard. And the injury is not a problem any more. He is nearing the level before the Athens Olympics," Sun said.

However, Sun warned that it was just impossible for Liu to win in Helsinki the way he did in Athens. "It was a perfect performance in Athens and don't expect it to happen again," he said.

Sun said that he will be satisfied if Liu can run better than his result in the Paris world chamionships in 2003, which means a silver is their goal. Liu took the bronze in Paris.

The men's 110m hurdles gold at the world championships will be decided on August 12.

Xing Huina, a surprise winner in the women's 10,000m in Athens,was also included in the 35-strong Chinese squad for the world championships. But she is also facing an incredible job to take the world title in Helsinki.

"Xing does not feel very well," said Feng Shuyong, head coach of the Chinese national team. "I don't believe she can win this time."

Feng said that he couldn't predict how many medals China can win in Helsinki. "Let's leave this question to the athletes," he said. "If they performed their best, anything is possible."

China has not won a gold in the past two athletics worlds in Edmonton, Canada, in 2001 and in Paris two years ago. Their last gold came from Liu Hongyu in the women's 10m walking in the 1999 edition in Seville, Spain.

Legendary coach Ma Junren surprised the whole world in the 1993world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, where his women runners won three gold medals. But his Ma's Family Army, a group of women long distance runners, could never repeat that kind of performances after world 5,000m record holder Wang Junxia broke away from his camp with several teammates because of prize money issues. Ma retired late in 2004 as a top sports official in northeast China's Liaoning province.

(Agencies)

hurdle: a race in which a series of such barriers must be jumped without the competitors' breaking their stride（跨欄）