Olympic champion Liu Xiang of China stormed to take the men's 110-metre hurdles title at the Osaka Grand Prix on Saturday.

In his first race since November, Liu clocked a winning time of 13.22 seconds for his third straight victory here.

Liu, who sprained his ankle in February before the start of the domestic indoor season, was happy about his performance.

"This was my first race this year, and I had no idea the time was going to be as good as that," said Liu, who caused a sensation in Athens in 2004 by equalling the world record of 12.91 seconds to win gold.

"I will give my all at the Osaka Championships next year. It's hard to predict, but I think I can go for around 13 seconds," Liu said.

The world's top sprinters are predicting that new world records will be set at Osaka's Nagai Stadium when it hosts the 2007 World Championships.

Justin Gatlin of the United States, who ran 9.95 seconds on Saturday in his first 100 metres of the season to win the blue riband event of the IAAF Japan Grand Prix, said he believed that fast times were inevitable.

"In 2007, I think you will see the track will produce many very fast times, some of the fastest times in the world," said Gatlin, the Athens Olympics 100m champion.

Gatlin has declared his goal this year is to break the 9.75 second barrier and smash the world record of 9.77 held by Asafa Powell. The Jamaican clocked 10.10 seconds a week ago in the United States.

Source: China Daily