Liu dampens hopes for Beijing worlds
Print Edition
HURDLER Liu Xiang has played down expectations that he will compete at the 2015 IAAF world championships in Beijing slated for August 22-30 as the organizers launched the 200-day countdown yesterday.
“I really want to compete at the world championships, especially on my home soil, but the chances for me to compete in Beijing seem to be very limited. I will try to find other ways to join the Beijing worlds,” said the 31-year-old Shanghai native, who was presented as one of the seven ambassadors for the tournament.
Liu underwent surgery in London after he limped out of the men’s 110-meter hurdles for the second consecutive Olympics with a ruptured Achilles tendon in 2012 and is yet to return to competition following more than two years of rehabilitation.
Fans and Chinese media have speculated that Liu will return to the track and compete at the Beijing worlds, but the former world and Olympic champion chose to maintain a low profile although he did not rule out the chance to run inn Beijing.
“I have competed in five editions of the world championships, in 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2011. Through these competitions I have grown from a rookie hurdler into a world champion,” Liu said. “As a veteran I feel proud to see the world championships to be held in China. And I will definitely be part of the championships no matter in what way.”
The 2015 worlds will be held at Beijing’s iconic National Stadium, known as the “Bird’s Nest”, which hosted the opening and closing ceremonies as well as the athletics events of the 2008 Olympic Games.
Liu does not have happy memories of the last time he competed at the “Bird’s Nest” as the Athens Olympic champion pulled out of the Games with an aggravated Achilles tendon injury. Four months later, he underwent a foot surgery in the United States and had four calcium deposits removed from his right foot.
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