SEVERAL members of Jamaica's golden Olympic cast, including former 100 metres world record holder Asafa Powell, female sprinter Shelly-Ann Fraser and 400m hurdler Melaine Walker, will showcase their talent at the second University of Technology (UTech) Track and Field Classic, that is scheduled to take place at the National Stadium on Saturday, April 18.

Provision has been made for a bigger staging as over 150 foreign athletes have been confirmed and unlike last year when only the grandstand area was open to spectators, this time additional seating will be afforded in the bleachers.

The four-hour meet, which was launched on Tuesday, is set to blast off at 5 p.m. with the 4x100 sprint relay college and invitational event and end at 9 p.m. with the men's 4x400 metres college and invitational.

Importantly, only athletes invited by the organisers will be partici-pating and already, they have received confirmation from athletes in the United States, Cuba, United Kingdom, Sweden, The Bahamas, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, Antigua, Liberia, Senegal, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Korea and Norway.

Meet director Paul Francis, who is also the assistant coach of the powerful MVP Track Club, stated that all their athletes, including Powell, Nesta Carter, Michael Frater, Walker and Fraser - who all won gold medals at the Beijing Olympics last summer, will be competing.

Francis also said UTech's student athletes and those from top local clubs and institutions such as Racers, G.C. Foster, University of the West Indies (UWI), Mico, Jamalco, Athletico, Jamtech and the High Performance Training Centre (HPTC), have been entered.

Additionally, the public will get one last chance to see the top high schools from last week's Champs battle each other in the 4x100m and the 4x400m, in their last match-up before leaving for the Carifta Games and Penn Relays. Champions KC and Calabar are expected to renew their sizzling rivalry in the boys' section, while Holmwood and Edwin Allen are major contenders for the girls' races.

Anthony Davis, UTech's sports director, said: "The UTech Track and Field Classic is one of four sports classics that the university inaugurated for the purpose of improving college-level sports locally and to provide needed funds to grow the development of sports at UTech."

Other events include the UTech Cricket Classic that was staged in January, the UTech Basketball Classic and the UTech Golf Classic, which were held in November.

The ticket office at the Stadium will be open at 10 a.m. on the day of the meet and gates will be opened at 3 p.m.