KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's fastest man, Azeem Fahmi, will run in the men's 100m preliminary round at the Stade de France at 4:35pm today, Malaysian time.
Azeem, who holds the national record of 10.09s and a season best (SB) of 10.36, faces a strong challenge from Gambia's Ebrahim Camara, who has a personal best (PB) and a SB of 9.98 in his preliminary round.
The other sprinter who could give Hangzhou Asian Games bronze medallist Azeem a strong challenge in the race is Singapore's Sea Games silver medallist Marc Brian Louis, who has a PB of 10.27.
There are seven sprinters in Azeem's preliminary round. The other four are Afghanistan's Sha Mahmood Noor Sahi (SB 10.68), Guinea Bissau's Secom Camara (SB 10.71), Tuvalu's Karalo Hepolteloto Maibuca (SB 11.39) and Marshall Islands's William Reed (SB 11.42)
A total of 16 athletes - the top two from each of the six groups (preliminary round) and the next four fastest will advance to the heats, which begin 80 minutes later at 5.55pm.