August 25, 2007	Saturday	Sha’aban 11, 1428

OSAKA (Japan), Aug 24: Tyson Gay and Asafa Powell can draw first blood in their eagerly awaited sprint showdown as the world championships’ 100 metres competition gets underway on Saturday.

The year’s most hotly anticipated clash, pitting the sensational Gay against world record-holder Powell, starts early with the first round taking place even before the opening ceremony.

The world’s two fastest men have not faced each other this year, preferring to put their rivalry on hold for the sport’s biggest stage.

While neither has a major title, Gay is predicting Powell’s 9.77sec world record could fall on the ‘super fast’ Osaka track on Sunday, delivering a dream start to organisers plagued by slow ticket sales.

“My first goal is to be victorious and try to take the gold medal,” said 25-year-old Gay, who scorched to a world-leading 9.84sec in June.

“But everything I am hearing about the track and the surface, it’s supposed to be super fast. So I’m really thinking it’s possible for the world record to be broken.”

The comments have heightened anticipation after an ultra-serious build-up punctuated only by Powell’s widely reported night on the tiles in Tottori, western Japan.

Both runners have locked themselves away with only Gay emerging to talk to the press this week.

“I’m not looking at this meet as a time when I could do a lot of sight-seeing,” Gay said. “I have my goals to come home with some gold medals and have really been focused to get ready to compete.”

Gay is the man in form after a breakthrough season including the fastest 100m and 200m double in history at the US championships in June.

Powell has been affected by knee tendonitis and a groin injury but bounced back to time 9.90sec last month in Rome, the second best time this year.

“It’s what he’s been waiting for, it’s what I’ve been waiting for,” said Gay. “I think the most important thing was that we both wanted to make sure we were 100 per cent injury-free before the opportunity came.

He’s been undefeated for over a year now, and I’ve been undefeated this year, so I really feel it (not facing each other earlier) was the right thing to do.”

Powell broke Tim Montgomery’s world mark of 9.78sec in 2005 and equalled the time twice last year.Only reigning world and Olympic champion Justin Gatlin, who failed a doping test last year, has run as fast.

Gay is aiming to become only the third 100-200 double world champion after compatriots American Maurice Greene in 1999 and Gatlin in 2005.—AFP