Officials broke their silence?Monday to confirm beyond any shadow of a doubt that China's pride and joy in the field of athletics will go under the knife later this month in Houston.

Athens gold medalist Liu was unable to defend his Olympic title in Beijing in August, much to the disappointment of home fans, when a crippling Achilles injury sent him hobbling off the Bird's Nest track in pain during preliminary heats of the 110m hurdles.

Since then his camp and specifically his trainer Sun Haiping have kept fans and reporters guessing as to whether they would resort to surgery to get the star back on track despite flying to the US last month, where the overwhelming response from doctors was that this would be the best recourse.

With four years to go until the London Olympics get under way, Liu has plenty of time to get back in shape.