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China's high hurdler Liu Xiang hopes to make a return to competition in his home city of Shanghai in September, more than a year after he hobbled out of the Beijing Olympics, according to his coach.

The former 110 metres hurdles Olympic champion and world record holder underwent surgery on his injured ankle in the US in December and will certainly miss his title defence at the world championships in Berlin in August.

His coach and long-term mentor Sun Haiping said, however, that if his recovery continued to go well, the 25-year-old would be able to run in the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix.

"We hope Liu can run at the Shanghai Golden Grand Prix in September before taking part in his third National Games in October. No matter what kind of result he could achieve, we can show that Liu is back," Sun told the China Daily.

"He also expects to defend his National Games title for the third time in October. If he can achieve a time of 13.20 to 13.30 seconds, he will win the National Games. Such a result is not beyond him."

China's 11th National Games, where Liu would represent Shanghai against athletes from other provinces in a competition that attracts more than 10,000 participants, take place from October 11-23 in Jinan, Shandong Province.

Liu's fastest 110 metres hurdles was the then world record time of 12.88 seconds he ran in Lausanne in 2006, a time since surpassed by Cuba's Olympic champion Dayron Robles.

His dramatic departure from the Bird's Nest stadium before the first heat of his Olympic title defence was a rare low for the host nation during last August's Olympics.

Despite his withdrawal and a brief backlash from some sections of the country's internet community who accused him of cowardice, he remains one of China's most popular athletes.

With Liu having said he would retire if he sustains another injury, Sun is keen not to rush him into a return to the track, even if the injury was now 90 percent healed.

"Liu will go for another check at the end of this month and if his foot is not completely cured, we won't let him train in spiked shoes and his return will be postponed," Sun added.

"All of our efforts are to get Liu back to normal, so we won't push him hard to take part in competition."

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Reuters