May 12, 2007	Saturday	Rabi-us-Sani 24, 1428

KINGSTON, May 11: Asafa Powell, the 100m world record-holder whose early season has been slowed by a sore knee, will return to competition in Belgrade on May 29, his manager Paul Doyle said Friday.

Over the last month, Powell has pulled out of the Mt. Sac and Penn Relays, along with the Jamaica International Invitational as he battled tendinitis in his right knee.

Jamaica's Powell, who holds the 100m world record of 9.77 seconds and last season registered a record 12 sub-10sec outings, has had to limit his training, but Doyle said the sprinter was now back to full strength.

“He's actually been training fine now,” Doyle told the Jamaican Observer.

“His block-starts has been great and he's run some all-out 300 metres as well and everything is holding up with the hamstring and the knee, so he seems to be back to 100 percent and working hard to make up for the three weeks (training) that he missed.

“His first meet will be in Belgrade on May 29,” Doyle said, adding that Powell's training partner Michael Frater, the 2005 World Championship silver medallist, will also contest the 100m.

“It's sort of a low-keyed meet and as an opener we figured it would be a good start for Asafa... it gives him enough time before the Eugene (Oregon) meet, the Prefontaine Classic (on June 10),” Doyle added, noting that the Jamaican star will have 12 days between both meets.

Powell, who twice equalled his world record of 9.77sec last summer, won a share of the 1million-dollar Golden League jackpot by winning all six races in the series last season.—AFP