Liu's long-awaited return stops Oliver

Former Olympic 110m hurdles champion Liu Xiang announced his comeback from years of injury misery with a convincing victory over David Oliver at the Diamond League meeting in Shanghai yesterday.

Liu ended his American rival's 20-race unbeaten run with a run of 13.07 seconds – the fastest in the world this year. Oliver came home second in 13.18sec. Liu, the 2004 Olympic champion, has struggled with an Achilles tendon problem since withdrawing from his home Olympics in Beijing. The injury also ruled him out of the 2009 World Championships, but he showed he will be a contender for the world title in Daegu, South Korea, in August.

He has had to master a new technique, taking seven strides instead of eight to the first hurdle. "It's very, very difficult and it has consumed me," he said.

Asafa Powell won the 100m in 9.95sec, the second-fastest time this year, just a week after suffering a hamstring injury in a 200m race. American Mike Rodgers was second in 10.01.

"It was a good performance," Powell said. "I was not trying to push too hard because I'm not 100 per cent so I was surprised with the sub-10 second time."

Britain's Jenny Meadows ran 2min 0.54sec to claim an impressive 800m win.