Former World Record holder in the 100m Asafa Powell will be fit and ready to run at the IAAF World Athletics Tour meeting in Doha, Qatar on 8 May despite limping off the track after anchoring the Jamaican men 4x100m relay team at the 115th Penn Relays Carnival at Franklin Field in Philadelphia on Saturday (25).

The Super Grand Prix Qatar Athletic Super Grand Prix 2009 is a Super Grand Prix category meeting as part of the 25 fixtures of 2009 IAAF World Athletics Tour.

Powell who anchored the Jamaican team to the gold medal and a World record of 37.10 secs at the Beijing Olympics last August pulled up while anchoring the Jamaican 4x100m relay on Saturday afternoon, jogging to the finishing line in obvious discomfort. See previous story in ‘Related Content’ under the photograph to the right of this story

Powell who missed a meet put on by his club MVP in Kingston the previous weekend but denied any injuries then, ran with bandages on his left ankle and after limping off the track was seen icing the area later.

Powell’s agent, Paul Doyle was quick to downplay the injury however saying it was not as bad as it could be and he will honour his obligations in Doha in two weeks time.

Powell who broke the World Record in the 100m three times and held it until last May when compatriot Usain Bolt ran 9.72secs at the Reebok Grand Prix in New York was included in the Jamaican team on Saturday even though World Championships 200m finalist Marvin Anderson, sixth in Osaka 2007, and Central American and Caribbean 200m gold medallist Xavier Brown were alternatives.

Powell who missed the meet last year after suffering a chest injury while training in a gym in California was reported in the Jamaica Observer newspaper to be skipping the relay for the 100m due to the ankle injury as he would not be able to push off around the curve.

However, Powell took his place in the line up on Saturday and after limping off Doyle said the sprinter had told them that morning he felt much better and wanted to run.

Former Olympic champion Donald Quarrie who was in charge of the Jamaican teams in Philadelphia also played down the win by the USA squad in 37.90 seconds saying that that time at this juncture was not important, “we ran 37.10 last years and we (Jamaica) will run 36 seconds in August,” he predicted.

Paul Reid for the IAAF