World record holder China's Liu Xiang competes in the men's 110m hurdles final during the 15th Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, Dec. 12, 2006. Liu took the gold medal. Dec. 13 - World record holder Liu Xiang took it easy and still wound up with a record as he defended his 110-metre hurdles title on the last night of track and field competition at the Asian Games.
A relaxed looking Liu clocked 13.15 seconds Tuesday, almost half a second slower than his record of 12.88 set at Lausanne this year. With no serious competition at these Games, Liu has said his aim in Doha was merely to break his Asian Games record of 13.30 set four yeas ago at Busan, South Korea. He achieved that in a canter, leaving fellow Chinese Shi Dongpeng and Japan's Masato Naito to fight for silver and bronze.
"Before the race I planned to run slower, but after the start I saw a shadow following me," said Liu. "I was scared to be defeated by him, so I picked up."
Liu in 2004 became the first Chinese man to win an Olympic sprint event, trying the world record in Athens.
In other athletics events, Kenyan-born James Kwalia Kurui won the men's 5,000 metres for host Qatar in 13:38.90 to top an all-Gulf state podium. Mucheru Salem Jawher of Bahrain, also originally from Kenya, took silver and Burundi-born Sultan Khamis Zaman of Qatar had bronze.
Thailand was a surprise winner in the men's 4x100-metre relay, while China won the women's race and Maryam Yusuf Jamal of Bahrain won the 1,500 metres.
Iraq's soccer team played itself into gold medal contention, beating South Korea 1-0 to book a final berth against Qatar, which upset defending champion Iran 2-0.
Elsewhere, South Korea's Lee Hyung-taik rallied from a poor first set to beat Filipino Cecil Mamiit 7-5, 6-0 and advance to the singles tennis final, while top-seeded Li Na was dumped out of the women's semifinals by India's Sania Mirza 6-2, 6-2.
Fourth-seeded Mirza will contest the women's final against China's Zheng Jie, who beat Aiko Nakamura of Japan 6-3, 6-2.
"I had seen her play before, I knew I had to attack her strong forehand," said Mirza. "It was a big match, one of the better matches I've played."
