London, Aug 11 (IANS): China's diving world champion Qiu Bo launched a near-perfect display from the 10m platform to qualify in top spot for Saturday's semi-finals.

Qiu, winner of the event at the 2011 World Championships, led the field with the highest 563.70 points, more than 30 points ahead of his teammate Lin Yue who ended second with 532.15 points Friday, reports Xinhua.

Germany's Sascha Kelin, bronze medallist of the Shanghai World Championships, dived consistently well to finish third.

Defending champion Aussie Matthew Mitcham, who struggled with injuries since Beijing Games, looked off his best as he finished ninth.

Moreover, British home favourite Tom Daley looked nervous as he started his individual campaign with an indifferent first dive, which was only good enough for 18th after round one.

The 18-year-old looked out of form as his penultimate dive only scored 39.60 points, one of the lowest of the night. The score saw Daley drop to 16th before going through in 15th.

His teammate Peter Waterfield, silver medallist in the synchro platform at Athens Games, had a poor evening as he finished 23rd and failed to progress.

Saturday will see the last gold medal from diving competitions. So far, China has captured six of the seven diving events completed.