BEIJING, Sept 3 — China’s Olympic swimming champion Liu Zige will skip November’s Asian Games to concentrate on next year’s world championships, Chinese swimming officials said.

Liu had been suffering from fatigue since winning the 200 metres butterfly at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the vice president of Chinese swimming’s governing body told Friday’s China Daily.

“To prepare for the London Games we’d better give her a rest to recover her strength and keep her form,” Shang Xiutang said on Liu’s decision not to compete in Guangzhou.

“Missing the Asian Games is acceptable,” Liu’s coach Jin Wei told Xinhua recently. “Top-class events will be her number one priority — especially next year’s world championships and the 2012 London Olympics.”

The absence of the world-record holder will make Jiao Liuyang, runner-up behind Liu at the Beijing Olympics, favourite to win the Asian title. — Reuters