Last Updated: Tue, 29 Apr 2008 11:48
World 100m record holder Asafa Powell's start to his track season has been delayed until late June due to a chest injury.
The 25-year-old Jamaican sprinter has been forced to withdraw from the IAAF World Athletic Tour meetings in Doha, Oslo and Eugene in order to recover from a pulled a chest muscle he suffered while weight training.
Powell has already missed the Mt Sac Relays in California and last weekend's Penn Relays in Philadelphia, but he should be fit enough to start his preparations for the Olympic Games in Beijing, China, in the next couple of months.
Powell, who holds the 100 metres world record of 9.74 seconds, is thought to be targeting a return at the Jamaican Championships at the end of June with a view to putting his poor show at last summer's World Championships in Osaka firmly behind him. He was defeated by American Tyson Gay and Bahamian Derrick Atkins after tightening up towards the close of the race.