Liu puts positive spin on seventh place finish
Liu Xiang (刘翔) and his coach Sun Haiping are putting a positive spin on the once world champion hurdler's seventh-place performance at World Indoor Championships in Doha, Qatar, over the weekend. Liu clocked a time of 7.65 seconds in the 60-meter hurdles, in his first major international competition since he limped off the track at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Olympic champion Dayron Robles of Cuba came in first, and the USA's Terrence Trammell was second.
Liu had set a goal of making the finals at Doha, which he accomplished, and Sun said the competition had not done any further damage to his runner's surgically repaired Achilles tendon.
Liu now has about a year and a half to prepare for the next IAAF World Championships in Athletics, scheduled to begin August 27, 2011 in Daegu, Korea. Before that, he will no doubt be expected to bring home a gold medal for China at the Asian Games in Guangzhou this coming November.
