Beaming Rebecca Kpossi, 12, remained upbeat on Friday despite a super-slow time which left her dead last in the world 50m butterfly heats - nearly 30 seconds outside the qualifying time.

Kpossi, from Togo, struggled home in 55.17 sec, leaving her as the slowest out of 51 competitors by nearly 17 sec. She was 29.49 sec off the pace set by Swedish world record-holder Therese Alshammar, who led the heats. But the youngster, also listed to swim in the 50m freestyle heats, was delighted with her performance in Shanghai's Sea Crown stadium, venue for the biennial World Championships.

"I feel very good. It's very important to be here to learn," said Kpossi, adding she had two ambitions.

"I want to be a paediatrician and my objective is to swim in the Olympics," said Kpossi, who started swimming at two years old and won her first medal a year later.

Kpossi, watched by her father and coach in Shanghai, is one of only two swimmers from Togo at the World Championships.

Also on Friday, Mauritanian swimmer Hamza Labeid's 50m freestyle campaign met an unfortunate end when he false-started, checked himself and flopped into the water, earning an instant disqualification and guffaws from the crowd.

In the men's 100m butterfly heats Janvier Niyonkuru, from Burundi, finished in last place in 1 min 27.01 sec, a yawning 35.25 sec behind pace-setting American Tyler McGill (51.76).

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 07/31/2011 page8)