Bolt sensationally shattered the 100 and 200-metre world records at the IAAF World Championship in Berlin last month to add to his Beijing Olympic titles in both sprints.

He was earmarked for China’s Shanghai International meet on September 20 and the Daegu Pre-Championship meet in South Korea on September 25 but his handlers advised the organisers that he will no longer make the trip.

“They confirmed by e-mail this morning that Bolt can’t participate in the pre-championship,” the Daegu Committee official told The Korea Times, Wednesday.

The announcement comes after the meet committee said last month that they had reached an agreement with the sprinter.

Bolt had initially planned to end his season at the meet in Shanghai on September 20 but the Daegu committee offered him an appearance fee in the region of US$500,000 to try to bring the sport’s biggest star to Korea.

Now Bolt will close his season with his appearance at this weekend’s World Athletics Finals in Greece and will forego the Asia trip.

“We tried to persuade him to run, but he had already made up his mind. The agency wanted him to run but he was very firm on that,” added the Daegu official.

The 23-year-old Bolt has competed at two meets since he won the sprint double and helped Jamaica capture the 4X100-metre relay in Berlin in mid-August, scoring huge wins at the IAAF Golden League Weltklasse Zurich event in late August and the Brussels Golden League on September 5.

Bolt lowered the 100-metre world record at the Berlin World Championship to a stunning 9.58 seconds and his world record run of 19.19 in the 200 was just as awesome.

He complained of fatigue during the World Championship and again at the Brussels Golden League last Friday when he ran 19.57 seconds, the fourth fastest time ever recorded for 200 metres.

The Daegu committee had hoped to use Bolt’s presence boost the meet and raise the profile of the sport in the city ahead of 2011 when they will stage the IAAF World Championship.

Reports yesterday suggested that organisers were pursuing a Plan B that involved trying to get the men who chased Bolt in his world record run in Berlin.

“We are trying to invite Asafa Powell of Jamaica and Tyson Gay of the United States, but Gay could be a little hard because he has a thigh injury,” the committee official said.

The list of participants at the Daegu meet will be announced after the World Athletic Final ends.