KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian sprinter Azeem Fahmi has broken into the top 10 of the Asian men's 100m rankings.
The 19-year-old, who was ranked 14th last month, has moved up to eighth, his highest in Asia, this month after winning the 100m bronze with a 10.11s run in the Hangzhou Asian Games last week.
Abdul Hakim Sani Brown of Japan, who finished sixth (10.04) in the World Championships final in Budapest in August, is ranked No.1 in Asia.
China's Zhenye Xie, the winner of the blue riband event in Hangzhou in a scorching 9.97, is ranked second followed by Japanese Hiroki Yanagita, who clinched the Asian Championships gold (10.02) in Bangkok in July.
Notably, Thailand's Puripol Boonson, who finished ahead of Azeem with his silver (10.02) in Hangzhou, is ranked below the Malaysian at 20th in Asia.
Coach Amir Izwan said: "Azeem is happy all his hard work in training has paid off.
"However, rankings are just a guideline to know where an athlete stands. What's more important is Azeem's performance on the day of competition.
"Azeem has to train much harder to clock 10 seconds flat to qualify for the Olympics."
Azeem, who holds the national record of 10.09, has returned to the United States to continue his studies and training under coach Ken Harnden at Auburn State University.