SEOUL – Jamaica's Asafa Powell and Tyson Gay of the United States will take part in next week's athletics meet in the southern South Korean city of Daegu, organisers said Wednesday.

Interest in the Daegu Pre-Championship Meeting, a one-day prelude to the 2011 world championships in the city, had waned after news that sprint king Usain Bolt pulled out.

"We received definite answers from Gay and Powell that they will take part in the event," Moon Dong-hoo, vice president of the organising committee for the 2011 championships, told Yonhap news agency.

The pre-championship meeting is held on September 25.

Gay won gold in the 100 metres in the 2007 world championships but finished runner-up in the 2009 Berlin event last month to world record holder Bolt.

Powell held the 100 metres world record of 9.72 seconds before Bolt set a series of stunning new marks, including his latest 9.58 seconds.

Among other athletes confirmed, American Carmelita Jeter, who won bronze in Berlin, will compete in the women's 100 metre in Daegu.

Three-times champion Allyson Felix and Jamaica's Veronica Campbell-Brown, a Beijing Olympic gold medalist, will run in the women's 200 metres.