Liu keeps his focus as record falls

Source: Agencies/Shanghai Daily  |   2008-6-14  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

CHINA'S Olympic and world champion hurdler Liu Xiang said yesterday that he did not feel any extra pressure after Cuba's Dayron Robles broke his world 110 metres hurdles record at the Golden Spike meet in Ostrava, Czech Republic, on Thursday.

Liu told the China Interactive Sports yesterday that he had heard about the world record in the morning but said it wouldn't affect his Beijing preparations, Xinhuanet.com reported.

The Cuban shaved a hundredth of a second off the record Liu had held for two years with his run of 12.87 seconds on Thursday, confirming his status as Olympic champion Liu's main rival for gold in Beijing.

The 21-year-old Robles has been in sparkling form this year, particularly in the indoor season when he set six of the seven fastest times over 60m.

Liu's mark of 12.88 was set in Lausanne, Switzerland, two years ago.

Liu praised Robles as a promising athlete and said he expected him to clock in the region of 12.90 seconds sooner or later. The Shanghai native also said that he expected to compete with Robles at the Beijing Olympic Games, adding he was the youngest, most promising and challenging athlete to emerge.

Liu clocked 12.91 seconds to win the gold at the Athens Olympic Games on August 27, 2004, at the age of 21. That equaled the record set by Britain's Colin Jackson in 1993.

Liu is China's biggest hope for a medal in the men's track-and-field competition in Beijing. But he has been suffering from a tight hamstring and was disqualified for a false start at the Prefontaine Classic in the United States at the weekend.

Liu's personal coach Sun Haiping also said that the new record will provide added motivation for his protege.

"Certainly it's a kind of motivation for Liu and me," Sun told the official Website of the Beijing Olympics (www.beijing2008.cn).

"Sport is competition. For this event, Liu led in the past but now Robles has the advantage. Therefore, we must improve ourselves again."