Nepali athlete Saraswati Chaudhary has exited the Tokyo 2020 Olympics from the preliminary round on Friday.

The 24-year-old, the last of the five Nepali athletes competing in Tokyo, clocked 12.91 seconds in women's 100 metres to finish eighth in Heat 2, ahead of Yasmeen Aldabbagh of Saudi Arabia (13.34 seconds).

Chaudhary also failed to improve her 100 metres personal best (12.55 seconds) she had set in the 13th South Asian Games held in December 2019 in Kathmandu.

Nepal's national record for 100 metres is held by Devi Maya Paneru. She had clocked 12.19 seconds in 1999 South Asian Games, also held in Kathmandu.

Iran's Fasihi Farzaheh finished on top in the preliminary heat clocking 11.76 seconds, behind Malaysian Azreen Nabila Alias (11.77 seconds) and Mudhawi Alshammari of Kuwait (11.82 seconds). The top three athletes from heat 2 qualified for round 1 but failed to make it to the semi-finals.

Chaudhary finished 20th among the 27 athletes competing in the preliminaries.

Athletes finishing on top three from each of three preliminary heats and the fastest fourth-place finisher had advanced into round 1. The preliminary round is raced by the athletes who fail to achieve the required qualifying time (11.15 seconds) for the event. The athletes achieving that time get a bye into the first round.

Chaudhary's exit means all five players representing Nepal in Tokyo have exited the Olympics early. Gaurika Singh and Alexander Shah improved their bests to set new national records in 100 metre swimming freestyle. Shooter Kalpana Pariyar also was out from the first round but was able to save her blushes with a new national record.

Judoka Soniya Bhatta also failed to impress in Japan.

Swimmers Singh and Shah, and athlete Chaudhary were picked for Olympics under universality place while Pariyar and Bhatta were given wild cards or entry by invitation.

Ivory Coast's Marie-Josee Ta Lou was the top performer of round 1, roaring across the finish line with 10.78 seconds.

Defending Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah of Jamaica (10.82), her compatriots Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.84) and Shericka Jackson (11.07) also advanced into the semis.

Other athletes to qualify for the semis after first round were Britain's Dina Asher-Smith (11.07), Daryll Neita (10.96), Asha Philip (11.31), United States' Teahna Daniels (11.04), Javianne Oliver (11.15), Jenna Prandini (11.11), another Ivorian Murielle Ahoure (11.16), China's Ge Manqi (11.20), Switzerland's Mujinga Kambundji (10.95) and Ajla del Ponte (10.91), Germans Tatjana Pinto (11.16) and Alexandra Burghardt (11.8), Canada's Khamica Bingham (11.21) and Crystal Emmanuel (11.18), Italy's Anna Bongiorni (11.35), Nigeria's Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha (11.00) and Blessing Okagbare (11.05), Gina Bass of Gambia (11.12), Tynia Gaither of Bahamas (11.34) and Michelle-Lee Ahye of Trinidad and Tobago (11.06) also qualified for the semis.

The top three finishers from each of the seven heats and the next three fastest runners of round 1 had qualified for the semis.

The semi-finals will take place on Saturday.