Star hurdler Liu Xiang will fly to the United States today and undergo surgery on Friday to repair the Achilles injury that forced him out of the Beijing Olympic Games.

Doctor Thomas Clanton will operate on the 25-year-old while the athletic trainer for the Houston Rockets, Keith Jones, will oversee Liu's rehabilitation during the next few months, Xinmin Evening News reported yesterday.

Liu went to Houston, Texas, on October 29 and received a group consultation by doctors at Memorial Hermann Hospital. Following a series of X-rays and other tests, US doctors confirmed the diagnosis by Chinese experts.

Doctors said Liu's heel had calcified and only surgery would give him the chance of a full recovery.

Liu will spend several months in the US after surgery, said Xinmin Evening News. Dr Clanton previously operated on Yao Ming's ankle.

(Agencies via Shanghai Daily December 3, 2008)