Turning to sports China's Liu Xiang began his new season and Olympic year by beating arch-rival Dayron Robles of Cuba to win the men's 60-meter hurdles final at the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix on Saturday.
Liu, the Athens Olympic champion ran a new personal best time of 7-point-4-1 seconds improving on his previous fastest time by 0-point-0-1 seconds.
Robles claimed the silver in 7-point-5-0 and Dexter Faulk of the US took the bronze in 7-point-5-4 seconds. The 28-year-old Chinese now holds an 8 to 5 advantage over Robles in head-to-head meetings. The victory is not only a good start for his new season but also bodes well for his outdoor season which this year includes the London Olympics.
Liu's coach Sun Hai-pin says if Liu could run under 7-point-5-0 in the indoor event then the former world-record holder is capable of running sub-13 seconds in the 110 meter event.
Saturday's victory raises optimism that Liu is in a good position to lower his personal best time of 12-point-8-8 seconds and to claim the gold at this year's Olympics.

刘翔在奥运年的“第一枪”格外惊艳！在18日的伯明翰室内田径赛男子60米栏决赛中，刘翔以7秒41的个人生涯最好成绩击败古巴名将罗伯斯，取得了自己在新赛季的“开门红”。刘翔在预赛和决赛中两次都是第一。他在决赛中将自己之前的个人最好成绩7秒42提高了0.01秒，率先冲过终点。他也由此刷新了由他保持的亚洲纪录。　　“我没有想到能跑这么好！七步上栏今天来看很成功！”赛后的刘翔十分兴奋。罗伯斯以7秒50获得第二。