Liu's dream shattered by injury

By Nick Mulvenney

BEIJING (Reuters) - Liu Xiang's dream of defending his Olympic title on home soil was shattered on Monday when an injury forced him to hobble away from the track before his first-round 110 meters hurdles heat.

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 the injury to his right foot before walking away and leaving a packed Bird's Nest stadium in stunned silence.

"The problem today is his foot, it's not clear exactly when it began but it is six or seven years old. It was there before the 2004 Athens Games and it has been coming and going," his tearful coach and mentor Sun Haiping told a news conference.

"It's the end of the Achilles tendon in his right foot," he added. "I'm afraid he won't be able to compete before the end of the year ... he can barely walk.

"He was in tears, he's very depressed."

The China athletics team's head coach Feng Shuyong said the injury had recurred in training on Saturday and worsened on Monday morning.

"This morning he felt the pain intensify," he said. "Even though he felt the pain he decided to compete in the first heat.