Asafa Powell has pulled out of the 100m at the Gaz de France meet scheduled for next Friday in Paris.  Powell took the decision following a groin strain, which he suffered during last Friday's Golden League meet in Rome.

Powell's agent, Paul Doyle said that Powell "did not want to take any risks with the Olympics less than a month away. " He added that the former world-record holder would run in the Super Grand Prix in Stockholm on July 22.  Powell is also scheduled to face world champion Tyson Gay in an eagerly awaited head to head at Crystal Palace on July 25. 

Powell has been having a trying season thus far.  He cut his knee during training at the start of the season and then injured his pectoral muscle while weightlifting, which forced him to miss several weeks of competition including the Penn Relays and Mt. Sac Relays.

He has a season's best of 9.90 seconds, which he ran in the semi-finals of the Jamaican national trials for the Olympic games.  He was then beaten by world record holder Usain Bolt in the final.

Powell is aiming to capture gold in Beijing and get the proverbial monkey off his back.  He finished third at last years World Championships and fifth at the 2004 Athens Olympics.