Liu: I feel sorry for pulling out with injury

A Greek tragedy was played out when Liu Xiang faded into the athletes' tunnel with an injured Achilles tendon on Monday. The tragic hero was too heartbroken to talk for hours, but he regained his composure by late evening to say he felt "very sorry" for his forced withdrawal from the 110m hurdles at the Beijing Games.

The ace hurdler, whose injury dashed China's only real gold medal hope in athletics, told China Central Television (CCTV) that he would come back stronger.

"So many people are worried about me. I feel sorry. I could do nothing about it (pulling out of the race)," Liu told CCTV during an interview, telecast yesterday morning.