A young Chinese girl poses with a bust of Chinese basketball star Yao Ming on display at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games fine arts exhibition in Beijing on August 20, 2008. [Agencies]

Yao Ming Wednesday encouraged China's hurdling hero Liu Xiang to put his Olympic nightmare behind him and to strive for greater success in the future.

Yao, who has led China's basketball team to an Olympic quarter-final berth, sent a short text message to Liu's coach Sun Haiping and encouraged the hurdler to put the event behind him, China's Olympic Committee said on its website.