Although Robles won the race, he was subsequently disqualified for catching the 2004 Olympic champion's arm approaching the final hurdle.

But Liu, who had to settle for silver at the end of a season in which he had announced his return to full fitness after the injury which undermined his hopes at the Beijing Games, commented: "I don't think he did anything wrong in Daegu.

"Those kind of things always happen in a competitive race.

"It's normal."


The 28-year-old added: "We are both professionals, and most importantly, we are friends.

"We have competed against each other so many times."

Liu, world champion outdoors over the 110m hurdles in 2007 and indoors over 60m in 2008, said he had been training particularly hard.

He added: "This new year I didn't go back home at the Chinese New Year on January 23, which was the first time for me.

"I stayed with my team-mates, training hard, preparing for the Olympics."

Liu is planning to compete in the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Istanbul from March 9 until 11.

"I hope I can gain beautiful memories in Turkey since this will be one of the most important IAAF competitions before the London Olympics," he said.

Robles, the reigning World Indoor champion who holds the outdoor world record of 12.87sec, is looking forward to testing himself against high-class opposition.

The 25-year-old said: "Birmingham is due to have a good field so it'll be good for me.

"This year is clearly important for me.

I'm doing everything I can both in and out of competition to make sure that I'm competing at my best.

"I'm planning to run at the World Indoor Championships and, of course, I want to hold on to the Olympic title.

"We'll need to see what the other guys bring to the race."


The 60m hurdles is expected to be one of the highlights at the National Indoor Arena, where Britain's world 5,000m champion Mo Farah (pictured above), who broke the British 3,000m record on this track in 2009, will race over two miles chasing John Mayock's British record of 8min 17.06sec.

Farah's opponents include former world 5,000m champion Eliud Kipchoge and his fellow Kenyan Gideon Gathimba, plus Ugandan Moses Kipsiro and Ethiopia's Tariku Bekele whose older brother Kenenisa clocked a world best for this event of 8:04.35 here in 2008.

Meanwhile Britain's fast-rising pole vaulter Holly Bleasdale, whose effort of 4.87m in Villeurbanne last month put her third on the all-time indoor list behind Jennifer Suhr of the United States (4.88) and world record holder Yelena Isinbayeva (5.00m), is concentrating her energies on defeating Poland's 2009 World champion Anna Rogova in Birmingham.

The 20-year-old from Preston, who was only 62nd in the world with a best of 4.35m at the end of 2010, told insidethegames: "The indoor season is definitely really important to me this year.

"My coach and I are approaching it like a trial for the Olympics by doing four competitions before the World Indoors, which I am using as a test event.

"I haven't done that many major championships, so I want to make the most of the opportunity in Istanbul."

Bleasdale admitted she was finding it strange coming to terms with her sudden rise into the elite of her event.

"I have just done a press conference sitting next to Dayron Robles and Liu Xiang, athletes I have previously watched on TV," she said.

"I had to pinch myself to believe it."

Vivian Cheruiyot, the Kenyan world 5,000m and 10,000m champion, pulled out yesterday with flu.


Cheruiyot, one of the favourites for gold at London 2012, had been due to run in the 3,000m at the National Indoor Arena.

She explained: "I need to take a few days off to recover so I can resume training as soon as possible in this important year."

British multi-eventer Jessica Ennis (pictured above) is set to take part in both the 60m hurdles and long jump events, ahead of her bid for back-to-back world indoor crowns in Istanbul next month and her gold medal assault on the Olympic Games this summer.

The 26-year-old is looking to retain her world pentathlon title in Turkey, something which would set her up nicely for the Olympic heptathlon challenge this summer.

She will be looking to turn the table on Tatyana Chernova (pictured below), the Russian who took the world outdoor title from her in Daegu.


The 2012 gold medal hopeful added: "There are some really good girls competing in the heptathlon at the moment and any one of them could step up their game at any time, but I'm happy with the way I'm training."

Former world 100m record holder Asafa Powell, who ran 5.64 over 50m in New York at the end of last month, will seek to maintain his powerful start to the year by taking on Lerone Clarke, the current world leader over 60m, plus two other compatriots in Nesta Carter and Michael Frater.

Clarke is clearly on form after clocking 6.50 to beat Christophe Lemaitre in Liévin this week so Powell may have to lower his 2004 PB of 6.56 to claim the win.

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