Para taekwondo jin Allain Ganapin succumbed to Azerbaijan’s Abulfaz Abuzarli, 12-9, to exit in the round of 16 of the 2024 Paris Paralympics at the Grand Palais in France on Saturday, Aug. 31.

Competing in the men’s K44 -80kg event, the 26-year-old Ganapin failed to ride on the momentum of an early 9-4 lead with a minute and 43 seconds left as he lost his steam to his fifth-seed rival.

A victory for Ganapin could have earned him a quarterfinals meeting with Mexico’s Luis Mario Nejera.

Prior to the defeat, Ganapin routed Refugee bet Hadi Hassanzada, 22-13, marking his first win in the quadrennial showpiece after he failed to debut in the Tokyo edition three years ago for testing positive for Covid-19.

He was the third Filipino to make an exit after wheelchair racer Jerrold Mangliwan and para archer Agustina Bantiloc ended their respective campaigns the other day.

Meanwhile, swimmer Ernie Gawilan had some jitters to shake off as he finished dead last in the Men’s 200m IM-SM7 heats at Paris La Defense Arena.

Gawilan, who is in his third Paralympic stint, clocked 2 minutes and 56.39 seconds to settle for sixth place behind top qualifier Andrii Trusov (2:35.80) of Ukraine, second-placer Inaki Basiloff of Argentina (2:37.99) and another Ukrainian Yevhenni Bohodaiko (2:38.47).

Despite not qualifying in the said event, Gawilan will have another shot for the podium in the 400m Free-S7 Heat 2 on Monday, Sept. 2.