体坛英语新闻：Yearender: Liu Xiang, Sun Yang lead China to London

BEIJING, Dec. 23 (Xinhua) -- With the retirement of basketball legend Yao Ming, who led the Chinese sports delegation to the 2008 Olympic opening ceremony, Liu Xiang and Sun Yang will spearhead the Chinese athletes next year in London in pursuit of another golden harvest.

Struggling hard in the last three years to recover from the foot injury that dragged him off the field in a full packed Bird's Nest at the Beijing Games, star hurdler Liu Xiang is widely expected to repeat his title-winning feat in Athens Games in 2004, but senior sports official said that a medal of any color would be satisfactory.

"I think Liu is much more mature. He has recovered well from injury and has maintained good form this season," said Chinese Athletics Association (CAA) president Duan Shijie.

"I am convinced that he will achieve good results if he has a normal race. I think everybody will be satisfied whatever medal - gold, silver or bronze - he wins because he has spared no efforts in his sport."

The 28-year-old Liu, a former world record holder in the men's 110m hurdles, became China's most famous athlete after winning gold at the 2004 Olympic Games and 2007 Osaka World Championships.

But he winced in pain and limped off the track during the men's 110m hurdles first heat at the Beijing Games, leaving the 60,000-plus spectators at the Bird's Nest stadium and millions of TV audience in shock.

Three years after his sudden withdrawal with the Achilles injury, Liu regained honor after dramatically taking silver at the IAAF World Championships in Daegu this August.

Disrupted by Dayron Robles of Cuba running next lane at the last hurdles, Liu claimed a silver in 13.27, but he had already proved his competitiveness for London.

"I have been through two Olympic Games. It will be just another competition," said Liu Xiang. "I will try to get myself into good shape and we will see what happens."

Liu Xiang will not be the only hope for Chinese track and field team in London. Newly crowned world champion Li Yanfeng in the women's discus, hammer thrower Zhang Wenxiu and a bunch of young walk racers will share Liu's burden in charging for medals in London.

Also in the limelight is double world champion and men's 1,500m freestyle swimming world record holder Sun Yang, who is set to be another Chinese star in focus next summer in London.

The 20-year-old Sun became the most famous swimmer overnight by claiming the men's 800m and 1,500m freestyle gold medals at the Shanghai World Championships and broke the 1,500m freestyle world record held by Australian Grant Hackett for 10 years.

"I can still swim better in the 1,500m freestyle next year. My coach has set me a new target, but it's not the right time to release it now," said Sun, who will be a strong competitor in the men's 400m and 1,500m freestyle swimming at the London Games.

The Chinese swimmers reaped five golds, two silvers and seven bronzes at the Shanghai World Championships in July, harvesting their best results since 1994. Next year in London, it will not be surprising if they surpass their one-gold finish at the Beijing Games.

Three years ago in Beijing, athletes from gymnastics, weightlifting, diving, shooting, table tennis, badminton and judo contributed 39 out of 51 gold medals of the hosts. Looking ahead to London, these sports will continue to contribute medals to the Chinese delegation, but it will be difficult for them to maintain the dominance they showed on home soil.

For example, the Chinese gymnasts, who had snatched amazing nine golds at the Beijing Games, slipped to four golds, five silvers and three bronzes at this year's World Championships in Japan.