BEIJING, Feb 28 - China's Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang has enjoyed his "best ever" winter training regime but is not expecting too much from next week's World Indoor Championships in Spain, his coach said on Thursday.
The 110 metres hurdles world champion and world record holder remained focused on preparations for his Olympic title defence in Beijing in August and had done limited training on the 60 metres indoor event, according to Sun Haiping.
Sun Haiping (R), coach of Liu Xiang and Feng Shuyong (R2), head of China's Athletics Administration are at a press conference in Beijing on February 28, 2008. [Xinhua] |
"We only hope Liu will improve his personal best, which is possible," Sun told a news conference.
"In the winter training camp, we put 60 percent attention on the preparation for outdoor competitions, mainly the Olympic Games, and 40 percent on the upcoming world indoor championships.
"We did not fully concentrate on the indoor session until last week."
The 24-year-old, whose personal best indoors is 7.42 seconds, will return to competition at the March 7-9 championships in Valencia, having skipped most of the indoor season.
"I'm fully confident with his outdoor performance this year," Sun added. "He will be even better than in previous years."
China was sending a squad of 11 athletes to Valencia for the indoor championships, said Feng Shuyong, head of China's Athletics Administration.
After returning from Spain, Liu will search for a training base with similar weather to Beijing and a track like the one in the "Bird's Nest" National Stadium, venue for the athletics at the August 8-24 Olympics.
"We do not have a home advantage in being able to train in the Bird's Nest ahead of others," Sun said.
Both Sun and Feng also spoke of the huge burden of expectation placed on Liu's shoulders as China's only real hope for a track gold medal in Beijing.
"There are certainly pressures," Sun said. "The only way to reduce pressures are to strengthen his ability and confidence through training and competition."
Feng asked the media not to let the expectations build too much.
"Liu Xiang is just a human being," he said. "He can't guarantee to win every competition but he will do his best."
