Star hurdler Liu Xiang will lead China's team to this month's athletics world titles in Japan, where it is hoped a recent performance pact made between coaches and officials will harvest a bumper crop of medals.

 

Men's 110m hurdles world record holder Liu is currently below best form but still expects to inspire his fellow cast of Beijing hopefuls at next week's World Athletic Championships in Osaka, Japan.

 

National athletics head coach Feng Shuyong told the China Daily all coaches had signed a "responsibility deal" with the Chinese Athletics Association ahead of the last big meet before the 2008 Olympics.

 

Feng refused to detail the performance pacts, but said they placed more onus on coaches to elicit the best possible performances from their charges.

 

"We are going to Osaka for the gold, although we cannot guarantee anything," Liu's long-time coach Sun Haiping said, confirming the high standards set for China's finest.

 

"At present, Liu's form is at 80 percent of best, with the result of about 13.10 seconds. In the gearing up to the World Championships, we will make some adjustment and Liu will do better."

 

After training in Beijing for the past several weeks, Liu has been honing his starts and speed over the first three hurdles.

 

"During the training, we are trying to strengthen Liu's advantage of good beats between hurdles and improve his speeding-up after the first one or two hurdles," Sun said.

 

"According to his form, I hope he could reach about 13 seconds in the Worlds or even better."

 

The 24-year-old Liu has competed in three world championships.

 

He was eliminated in the second round at Edmonton in 2001 as an 18-year-old newcomer, before scoring bronze at Paris in 2003 and silver at Helsinki two years ago.

 

After winning the Olympic gold medal in 2004 and setting the benchmark of 12.88 seconds last year, a world championship is the only title to have eluded the Shanghai local.

 

Winning the title will be within Liu's reach but breaking his own record is beyond him, Sun says.

 

Liu set the world record in the Lausanne Grand Prix in July.

 

"You will have to run three rounds in the world championships, unlike the Grand Prix," Liu said.

 

"So the top priority is to win, not to break the world record."

 

If Liu won gold, it would be the first world championship in eight years for Chinese athletics, after women's walker Liu Hongyu's win in Seville in 1999.

 

Most of the 60-strong team bound for Osaka are yet to experience either world or Olympic titles and will look to Xiang for inspiration.

 

"Chinese athletics is gradually closing the gap on the top world levels but generally we are still a long way off," national coach Feng said.

 

"This is a very good opportunity to rehearse for the Olympics because Osaka has the same weather and humidity as Beijing.

 

"We are sending a comparatively young team and most of them will be among our Olympic squad next year.

 

"I hope they could gain valuable experience from such high-level international competitions."

 

Feng said it was hard to predict how many medals China would win but he expects more athletes to set personal bests.

 

"I hope 35 percent of the athletes could compete in their best forms, which means over 20 athletes could achieve their personal best," said Feng.

 

"In the last Worlds, the Chinese athletes reached the top eight for 11 times. I hope we could do better this time and more could reach the finals."

 

Despite winning four middle and long-distance gold medals at the 1993 world championships in Stuttgart, Chinese athletes will be absent from both events in Osaka.

 

Xing Huina, women's 10,000m gold medalist at the 2004 Athens Olympics, failed to qualify for Japan after succumbing to a recurring injury.

 

(China Daily August 16, 2007)