In the first-round competition at the National Sports Centre, Azeem, who ran in heat four, finished the race in seventh place out of eight participants with a time of 10.26s.

The gold medal winner of the 2022 World Under-20 Athletics Championships, Letsile Tebogo from Botswana came in first place after clocking 10.11s followed by Rohan Browning of Australia who shared the same time, but the winner was determined by photo finish.

Third place belonged to the UK’s Reece Prescod who posted a time of 10.14s, thus accompanying Tebogo and Browning to confirm a place in the semifinal stage.

Earlier in the qualifying round, Azeem clocked 10.24s in heat two to qualify for the first round.

Azeem, who is making his debut at the World Championships this year, is the 100m national record holder with a time of 10.09s that he set at the U-20 World Athletics Championships in Cali, Colombia in August last year.

The 19-year-old Perak-born athlete’s best time this season was 10.11s which he clocked in the US last May.

He is expected to compete at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games next month after not representing the national athletics squad at the 2023 Sea Games in Cambodia, last May, in his quest for a ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.