Azeem Fahmi was disqualified from his men's 100m preliminary heat at the 2021 SEA Games after he was adjudged to commit a false start.

The 18-year-old, who helped set a new national record en route to a silver medal finish in the men's 4x100m relay event, was touted for a medal finish in the flagship event.

However, he was excluded from his heat for allegedly moving before the starting signal despite no conclusive evidence on initial video replay.

It is understood that Malaysia launched an official protest against his disqualification.

Azim tersingkir di saringan 1 #semarakjuara #seagames2021 #sukansea2021 #sokongmalaysia pic.twitter.com/FVKIrRI7rn
— ASTRO ARENA (@ASTROARENA) May 18, 2022

Meanwhile, another national runner, Arsyad Saat, qualified for the final but seemingly picked up an unfortunate injury in his heat, dealing a huge double blow to Malaysia's defence of their gold medal.

Malaysia won the event in the last two SEA Games editions through Khairul Hafiz Jantan in 2017 and Haiqal Hanafi in 2019.

Keadaan Muhammad Arsyad selepas buat larian 100m dalam heat 1 tadi ?Macam serious hamstring pull kalini. Come on Arsyad!@ASTROARENA pic.twitter.com/sU7C5Zl1Ty
— Fariha Razak (@FarihaPattinson) May 18, 2022