Swimmer Tao Li clocked 59.02sec in the women's 100m butterfly semi-final at the world championships, failing to improve on her timing of 58.94s earlier in the heats.

It means the Singaporean did not earn a place in the final, after finishing 14th out of 16 swimmers.

Her result, however, puts her the second-ranked Asian in the event. Tao finished behind China's Lu Ying, who clocked 58.67s and also did not make the final, and ahead of Japan's Natsumi Hoshi, who clocked 59.42s.

Both her timings at the meet in Barcelona are also better than the 59.07s she clocked at the national championships late last month. Tao's best timing in this event is her 57.54s effort clocked at the 2008 Olympics, a performance that put her in fifth place then.