China's hurdlist Liu Xiang competes during the men's 110m hurdles round 1 heat of Athletics at the 16th Asian Games, Nov. 22, 2010. Liu advanced to the final with 13.48 seconds. [Xinhua]

 

Former Olympic champion Liu Xiang clocked 13.48 seconds to top his men's 110m hurdles heat and move into next round at the Asian Games on Monday.

"Guangzhou is my lucky place," said Liu. "I won the Chinese National Games title in Guangzhou when I was just 18 and won the Asian championship here last year."

Liu told China's national TV that he was planning to run within 13.20 seconds in the final.

"The ranking doesn't matter to me," he said. "Only the result (time) matters."

The Chinese star, who limped off the track at the Beijing Olympic Games after getting into the starting blocks, has kept a low profile since he arrived in Guangzhou.

The 2004 Olympic champion and former world record holder has been slow to recover from surgery on his Achilles tendon after the Beijing Games, only being impressive once at a September 2009 meet in Shanghai where he timed 13.15 seconds.

Liu's seasonal best was 13.40 seconds where he finished third in the 2010 Shanghai meet.