China's athletics coach as well as a former top sprinter have called for more competitive events for young athletes so they can catch up with Asian powerhouse Japan.

"Chinese sprinters are not behind in terms of physical conditioning and training compared to Japan," said Li Qing, the coach of the Tsinghua University's sprint team, during Asafa Powell's appearance at the campus on Wednesday.

"But we don't get enough chances to compete in high-quality competitions throughout the year and that prevents us from catching up," he said.