BEIJING, Aug 30: Chinese sports fans reacted furiously on Tuesday after homegrown hero Liu Xiang was prevented from winning the 110 metre hurdles at the World Championships in Daegu by an “unsportsmanlike” foul.

Photos of Cuba's reigning world and Olympic champion Dayron Robles with his hand appearing to push Liu back as they crossed the penultimate hurdle were plastered all over the Chinese media.

One enraged fan went as far as comparing the incident to Zinedine Zidane's head butt on Italian defender Marco Materazzi in the 2006 World Cup final and to when Mike Tyson bit off a chunk of Evander Holyfield's ear in a 1997 title fight.

Although Robles initially won the race, he was later disqualified for the foul, allowing American Jason Richardson to take gold and Liu silver. But many fans thought the Chinese hurdler would have finished first were it not for the infringement.

“Shame on Robles,” one disgruntled fan posted on Weibo, the Chinese version of Twitter, “without the foul the gold medal would have belonged to Liu Xiang.” Another posting read: “I hate Robles to death, it is not right that someone as unsportsmanlike as Robles should get a medal.”

Liu was more measured. “I felt like someone touched my elbow and I lost my balance for a while but then I managed to stabilise it,” he said. “I'm sorry this happened to him because he's a friend of mine.”—AFP