Liu Xiang wins his first round heat at Asian Games.(File/Getty Images)   Feb. 4 - World 110m Hurdles record holder Liu Xiang of China who will compete three-times indoors in the coming week in Germany, took time-out from a session of media training with the IAAF to share his views about this goals and what drives him.

 

"This is the second time I have come to Stuttgart after I ran 12.93 at the World Athletics Final outdoors last year. This indoor season will serve as the end of my winter training. I still don’t know how fast I can run here but it will certainly be a good warm up (for his follow-up races in Germany]."

 

"Before last year I knew Stuttgart as the place where Colin Jackson ran the former World record. Last year after the WAF, I went to the Stuttgart zoo; it was a very funny place! " said Liu.

 

"The reason why I run indoors is to try and improve the first half of my 110m Hurdles racing which is not as good as the second half. My focus this winter will be on the start and the first three hurdles," he said.

 

Liu's coach Sun Haiping said: “Stuttgart is a lucky place for Liu Xiang because he ran 12.93 at last year's World Athletics Final. He appreciates the organisers in Germany and a very important thing is that there are a lot of Chinese students in Stuttgart. They actually all got together on the Internet and created a Liu Xiang’s fan club. They all want to see him run so Liu will feel like running at home here. Also last year we promised the organisers we would come back for the indoors, so here we are.”

 

"What I want is to work hard with my coach, to do my very best and perform well. After 2008 there will be many other competitions like the World Championships and the Golden League. (Beijing) 2008 is very important but it’s not the only competition," Liu said.