Chinese Olympic champion Liu Xiang's coach Sun Haiping said on
Friday he was content with Liu's performance at the 110m hurdles at
the world track and field championships in Helsinki.
"Liu Xiang was quite good during his reaction period, but he was a
little bit slow in the middle and he finally caught up during the
last two hurdles," Sun told Xinhua.
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Although satisfied with the silver medal and the clocking of 13.08
seconds, Sun said Liu might have added the world title to the
Olympic championship if Liu had run the track neighboring his major
rivals of Doucoure Ladji or Allen Johnson.
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"If he had run next to Doucoure Ladji or Allen Johnson, Liu could
have kept pace with them and then sprinted at the last stage. In
this case, he could grab the gold," said Sun, who has become a
household name for coaching China's first men's Olympic champion in
the track.
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"Nevertheless, I'm still satisfied with the silver," he
added.
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On Friday's race, the Chinese sprinter showed the quickest reaction
time of 0.142 seconds, but he touched the second hurdle and managed
to make good after the third hurdle.
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"I think he is not in his best form," Sun said.
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The 49-year-old said the world record holder did not maintain good
form as last year, because he did not arrange tight-schedule
training for Liu and Liu's training was interrupted by a few public
appearances Liu had made after the Athens Olympics.
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Sun said Liu would fly to Zurich to compete at the IAAF Golden
League later this month, then he would go back to China to prepare
for the Asian track and field championships.
?(Xinhua News Agency August 13, 2005)
