China's hurdler Liu hopes for comeback

China's hurdling star Liu Xiang said he hoped to make a comeback later this year after recovering from an injury that forced him to pull out of last year's Olympics, Chinese media said yesterday.

However, the 110m hurdles champion said he didn't know if he could participate in the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in September, an event organiser suggested last week he might enter.

"I never said I would. In fact, I myself don't know when I can return. But I think that it should be possible this year," he told Chinese journalists.

"However, I haven't given myself a date, because the priority is to see if my foot has healed."

Liu, 25, has been in training since he returned to Shanghai last month after three months in the United States, where he underwent surgery on his right Achilles tendon in December.

The injury forced him to pull out of the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

"My foot is much better, but now the important thing is to see if it can take the strain, at the moment my training is still not very intense," the athlete said.

Liu, a 2004 Olympic gold medallist, was one of China's great hopes for the Olympic Games last August.

But he shocked the nation by pulling up lame in a qualifying heat.