Athens Olympic champion Liu Xiang cruised into the men's 110m hurdle finals at the 11th Chinese National Games Saturday.

The 26-year-old Liu, who finished second at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix last month, exploded out of starting blocks and took the lead along with Ji Wei in the last three hurdles.

Liu slowed down before hitting the line and finished in 13.75.

The result was good enough for the "flying man" to advance to the final, but far off his former world record and personal best 12.88 seconds.

"It was just an ordinary match, and everything went all right," Liu said shortly after the race.

In the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix last month, Liu finished second in a wind-aided 13.15 seconds.

Liu's national teammates Shi Dongpeng and Xie Wenjun topped the other two groups in 13.84 and 13.79 seconds, respectively. They are both qualified for the finals on Sunday night.

Liu, the first Chinese athlete to win an Olympic track gold in 2004, is one of the nation's biggest stars like NBA Houston Rockets' center Yao Ming.

He is a major boost for athletics box office at the National Games. A ticket sales official said 34,900 tickets for finals had been sold, which accounted for 90 percent of the total.

If Liu wins on Sunday, he will be the first Chinese athlete to win an event in three straight Games.

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