National record holder and Commonwealth Games champion O'Dayne Richards will look to add to his resume today, when he lines up in the men's shot put at the IAAF Continent Cup in Marrakech, Morocco.

Richards, who this season threw the best mark ever registered by a Jamaican - 21.61m, en route to winning the Commonwealth Games title in Glasgow, will feature for Team Americas alongside teammate and world leader Joe Kovacs from the USA at the inter-continental championships inside the Grande Stade de Marrakech.

The 25 year-old is excited to have been selected to represent the region and is looking forward to what is expected to be a keenly contested competition.

"It's an excellent feeling as I've been selected among countries that have very good shot-putters and I'm very happy to be here," said Richards. "It's a very nice concept here in Africa and as far as the competition goes, it's short and concise so I know I have to get going from very early."

In addition to Kovacs, whose 22.03m is the best distance recorded this season, Richards, will come up against Team Europe's David Storl (21.97m) from Germany and Poland's Tomasz Majewski (21.04m) as well as Tom Walsh from New Zealand and Team Asia/Pacific (21.24m), the man he beat to the Commonwealth Games title.

"Tom (Walsh) and I are now rivals; friends but rivals, he now has the advantage 3-2 over me; he has beaten me three times and I have beaten him two times in the five times that we have competed against each other," Richards said.

The men's shot put straight final is set to get under way at 7:35 p.m. (1:35 p.m. Jamaica time) today.