SHANGHAI, China (CMC):

Jamaica's former world 100-metre record holder Asafa Powell and top American Tyson Gay have been confirmed to clash at meets in Shanghai and Daegu in the coming week.

Media reports in the two Asian countries published stories in the last 24 hours that Powell and Gay will line up for Sunday's Shanghai Grand Prix and the Daegu Pre-Championships Meeting on September 25.

World record holder Usain Bolt had been booked for both meets but the Jamaican sensation pulled out of the Asia trip last week because of fatigue and curtailed an astounding season that saw him winning the IAAF World Championship sprint double in Berlin, lowering his own world records in both events.

Shanghai organisers announced yesterday that confirmation of the appearance of Powell and Gay makes the men's 100 the premier event on the schedule this weekend.

Superstars

"Asafa Powell and his American rival Tyson Gay will compete," organisers said.

"The rivalry of the two superstars sets the stage for what is expected to be one of the most heated races at the competition," the organisers' statement added.

Sharing the spotlight with the men's 100 will be the 110-metre hurdles in which China's former world record holder Liu Xiang begins his comeback after a foot injury forced him to pull out of the Beijing Olympics last summer.

The Daegu Pre-Championship organisers pursued Powell and Gay after Bolt withdrew from their meet next week Friday.

Vice-president of the organising committee Moon Dong-hoo confirmed Wednesday that the two World Championship medallists have agreed to race.

"After Bolt's withdrawal, we contacted Gay and Powell, and they agreed to participate," Dong-hoo told reporters.

The 27-year-old Gay finished second to Bolt in the 100 at the Berlin World Championship with a personal-best and American record time of 9.71 seconds and Powell was third.

Beaten

Gay edged Powell by two-hundredths of a second in 9.88 seconds at the World Athletics Final in Thessaloniki, Greece, last week after Powell (9.90) had beaten him at the Brussels Golden League on September 4.

Powell, 26, ran his best time ever, 9.72, in 2008.

Trinidad and Tobago's Marc Burns, whose career best is 9.96 seconds, will join Gay and Powell in the 100-metre sprint.

Other top names listed for the Daegu event will be Jamaica's Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown and American World Champion Allyson Felix, who will clash over 200 metres, and the in-form American Carmelita Jeter, the current world leader - and third fastest woman all-time - over 100 metres.

The Daegu meet is considered to be the biggest track and field competition in Korea since the 1988 Seoul Olympics.