China`s Liu Fails to Start Hurdles

Xiang pulled up after a false start and hobbled down the tunnel to leave the Bird`s Nest stadium in stunned silence.

Liu Xiang's dream of defending his Olympic title on home soil ended on Monday when he hobbled off the track before his first-round heat in the 110 metres hurdles.

China's world champion, the host nation's best hope of an athletics gold medal at the Beijing Olympics, was clearly out of sorts and grimaced in pain as he went down into the blocks.

After a false start, he stumbled forward for a few paces obviously hindered by an injury before walking away and leaving a packed Bird's Nest stadium in stunned silence. "Liu Xiang has two injuries, one in his foot and one in his leg," his coaches told a news conference. "One of the injuries is an accumulated injury.

"In the past he has not dropped out of any competition easily."

Along with basketball player Yao Ming, Liu is China's favourite sportsman and there was a huge weight of expectation on him to repeat his triumph of 2004, when he became his country's first male Olympic champion on the track.

The 25-year-old's coach and mentor Sun Haiping said on Sunday that Liu had an inflamed Achilles tendonand his preparations were hampered by a hamstring injury.

NATIONAL HERO

The son of a Shanghai truck driver, Liu became a national hero overnight when he matched the then world record to win Olympic gold in Athens in 12.91 seconds four years ago.

After a 2005 season where he struggled with injury and only managed a silver behind France's Ladji Doucoure at the world championships, he stormed back in 2006 to set a world record of 12.88 in Lausanne.

Victory in Osaka last year gave him his first world title and further ramped up the expectation that he would win gold again in Beijing.

Chinese fans were left in shock but most were sympathetic towards Liu.

"It must hurt, we can see he has impression of pain in his face," said Tracy Yang, a Tsinghua University student. "We support him, he will be back."

Cuba's Dayron Robles, who qualified from his heat on Monday morning, took Liu's world record with a run of 12.87 seconds in June.