(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-02-20 15:00

SYDNEY - Asafa Powell is planning to undergo a last-minute fitness test before deciding whether he can run in Thursday's grand prix meeting in Melbourne.

World 100 meters record-holder Asafa Powell of Jamaica shows the gash on his left knee, Friday, Feb. 15, 2008, that has forced him to pull out of a Grand Prix athletics meet in Sydney. Powell was due to run Saturday. [Agencies]

The 100 metres world record holder from Jamaica says he is making steady progress after receiving stitches to his knee after tripping on the stairs of his home last week.

Although the injury is regarded as minor, Powell pulled out of last weekend's Sydney meet and is facing a race against time to get ready for Melbourne, where he is due to be the main attraction.

He said he was confident of racing at near his best but was still concerned about his ability to get out of the starting blocks so will test himself half an hour before his race before making a final decision.

"I will just come to the meet preparing to run and if I can't come out of the blocks then it's bad luck for me, but if I can come out of the blocks at least 90 per cent then I'll run," he said in a statement on Wednesday.

"I can bend it and that's what I wanted, the pain that I had yesterday is gone, but it will be the starting blocks that is going to decide."

Powell's coach Stephen Francis said it was still too early to say whether the Jamaican would run.

"It will depend on two factors, if he can do his starts tomorrow in warm-up and two, if he thinks he is well enough to win. If those two things are right, he'll run," Francis said.

"He has not done any starts since the incident happened, so he may go out there and feel uncomfortable in the blocks, exploding from the blocks, or he might feel sore from his workout this morning."

Powell, who won the Commonwealth Games gold medal on his last trip to Melbourne in 2006, said the injury was not serious enough to threaten his participation in this year's Beijing Olympics.