World champion Liu Xiang won his first outdoor 110m hurdles race
this year with a comfortable time of 13"14 at the 2007 Osaka World
Athletics Tour on Saturday.
The win was Liu's fourth straight victory at the event and his
fellowman Shi Dongpeng finished second with 13"24.
No athletes from the United States competed in the race, which
pitted five Japanese athletes against three foreigners, including
Liu and Shi.
A Japanese athlete jumped the gun at the start of the race,
forcing a restart. Liu Xiang gained the lead after clearing the
first three hurdles and successfully held his position all the way
to the finishing line.
Liu said he plans to go all-out at the 11th IAAF Athletics World
Championships, which will be held from 25 August to 2 September at
the Nagai stadium.
The 24-year-old?set a new hurdles world record when he
completed his race in 12"88 in Lausanne, Switzerland last July,
breaking?the former record of 12"91 set by Britain's Colin
Jackson in 1993.
(CRI May 6, 2007)
