Training camp no-show puts Powell's Berlin trip in doubt

Asafa Powell, the former 100 metres world record holder, misses the Jamaican team training camp, his agent Paul Doyle confirmed.

A major question mark hangs over whether Asafa Powell will take part in the world championships in Berlin after the former 100 metres world record holder missed the Jamaican team training camp, his agent Paul Doyle confirmed. Powell, along with four other athletes including Shelly-Ann Fraser and Melanie Walker, failed to show up in Nuremberg for team training. As a result Doyle said he had received an email from the president of the Jamaica Amateur Athletic Association, Howard Aris, implying that the five athletes could miss the August 15-23 championships as a result.

The agent insisted that he and Powell were under the impression that attending the camp was not obligatory. Doyle added: "He [Aris] said he was very disappointed and understands this means they did not want to participate at the world championships." He hoped the misunderstanding would be settled once the athletes arrived in Berlin from their summer base in Italy. "I am hoping they are on the team," Doyle said. "I have not been told otherwise"

However, Aris maintained he was clear in his communication. "I told Doyle the camp was mandatory, and if they don't go to the camp, they could not compete," he said. Doyle had to clarify that missing the camp had no relation to reports that the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF) had wanted the athletes at the camp for doping control. "None of them have been asked by the IAAF to be in Nuremburg."

"To that point I had received no notification that the training camp had even existed and certainly not that it had been mandatory," he said. "I have also spoken to my athletes - Asafa in particular - and he says he never received any notification the camp was mandatory" Meanwhile, four Jamaican athletes - Yohan Blake, Allodin Fothergill, Lansford Spence and Marvin Anderson - who tested positive for a stimulant methylxanthine in June were cleared after it was decided that the stimulant was not part of the World Anti-Doping Agency's (Wada) list of banned substances.