Events / Editor / 21 August 2007 / Leave a comment

The 11th IAAF World Championship in Osaka, Japan, promises an exciting series of head-to-head duels between established rivals in the track and field events.

A number of odds-on gold medal favourites will defend their reputations against all-comers, when the action gets underway at Osaka's Nagai Stadium from August 25 to September 2.

Reigning World champion Michelle Perry could be an attractive bet after dominating the women's 100m Hurdles event this summer.

But she was clearly beaten by European champion Susanna Kallur in Stockholm recently, giving US champion Ginnie Powell, who ran a personal best time of 12.45 in early June, hope of overturning the odds in Japan.

In the men's sprint hurdles, China's most famous athlete Xiang Liu is hungry to add the IAAF World Championships title to his impressive list of honours.

The 110m Hurdles World record holder and reigning Olympic champion has posted the season's best time of 12.92 and won five of his six races this summer, but returned with a silver and bronze from his previous trips to the 'Worlds'.

Betting against him again could prove risky, although twice Olympic silver medallist Terrence Trammell is expected to mount a serious challenge as he bids for his first global crown.

Cuban record holder Dayron Robles is a lively outside bet for glory while the odds on Frenchman Ladji Doucouré defending his title are drifting in the betting because of his sub-par form.

The blue riband event of the track remains the 100m where the betting is split between Jamaican World record holder Asafa Powell and his American rival Tyson Gay.

Gay threw down the gauntlet when he clocked a season's best 9.84 earlier this year and his much-hyped clash with Powell is set to be the highlight of the IAAF World Athletics Championships and the betting markets.