BEIJING (AP)

Liu Xiang is expected to undergo surgery in the United States on a painful foot injury that forced the star Chinese hurdler to withdraw at the start line during the Beijing Olympics.

Surgery was considered the only option following consultation with a number of specialists in the US, his coach, Sun Haiping, was quoted as saying.

Liu, the former Olympic champion and world record holder, will most likely undergo the operation sometime over the next few weeks in the US, where techniques are more advanced and a safer recovery assured, Sun said.

Nagging injury

Sun and Liu had been hoping to avoid surgery on the nagging injury in which, bone spurs had grown up between the Achilles tendon and ankle bone.

Other treatments, including traditional Chinese medicine and deep massage, had failed to fix the problem. Liu, promoted as the face of the games leading up to the Olympics, walked off the track at the start of his heat in Beijing's packed National Stadium in August without clearing a single hurdle.

A best-case scenario would see Liu return to competition by the World Championships in Berlin next August, although "it is hard to predict any good results," Sun said.

In the meantime, Liu will appear at the IAAF's World Athletics Gala in Monaco as an informal ambassador for Chinese athletics, China Daily and other media reported.

Liu is China's most successful short event track athlete ever.