Chinese Olympic champion hurdler Liu Xiang told a press conference on Tuesday that he is unlikely to recover in time to compete at the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing in August.

Liu, who has been recovering from a right Achilles tendon injury that sidelined him from racing at the 2012 London Olympics, appeared at the 200-day countdown ceremony of the Beijing Worlds held at the Bird's Nest on Tuesday as one of the seven athlete ambassadors of the event.

In response to a media question of whether he could still make it back to race at the Worlds, Liu said, "I think the possibility is pretty slim. I might be able to take part in the event in another role (not as an athlete)."

Liu's remarks came just two days after Wang Dawei, deputy director of the State Administrative Center of Track and Field, told media at the 2014 CCTV Sports Personality Awards ceremony that the 31-year-old "is still training in hopes of competing at the Worlds".

However, even though Liu has physically recovered enough to be able to return to the training track his current results (in trial races) haven't been up to the qualification mark for the world championships, Wang said.

"A lot of young athletes have come up and emerged as high-level contenders in the world. Some of them have already been able to reach the top 8 or win medals in their respective events. I hope the public could pay more attention to them and the coming world championships," said Liu, who won the 110-meter hurdle at the 2007 world championships in Osaka.

Liu, 110-meter hurdle gold medalist at 2004 Athens Olympics, withdrew from Olympic finals twice, once at the 2008 Beijing and then at the 2012 London Games, due to injuries and hasn't returned to the track for two and a half years.

Other Chinese athletes named as event ambassadors also include Chen Ding, Olympic gold medalist race walker, men's sprinter Zhang Peimeng and national record long jumper Li Jinzhe.

The 2015 World Championships will be held at the Bird's Nest from August 22 to 30. The event organizing committee also released the ticketing plan on Tuesday with the ticket price for a whole day session ranging from 50 yuan ($7.9) to 1000 yuan.