Nepal’s Bharat Singh Mahata exited the 2024 Paris Paralympics after he lost his men’s 58 kg K44 round of 16 match of the taekwondo competition against Mitsuya Tanaka of Japan at the Grand Palais in Paris on the opening day of the Games on Thursday.

Mahata, who qualified through the Bipartite Commission Place, lost his bout to Tanaka 3-19.

Mahata is currently seeded 57th in the World Taekwondo Paralympic Rankings.

A total of three Nepali para-athletes are in Paris.

Palesha Goverdhan will compete in the women’s 57kg K44 event of the taekwondo competition on Friday.

Goverdhan, ranked 12, will vie against Valeria Morales of Venezuela in the round of 16 match.

Goverdhan is making her second appearance at the Paralympics after participating at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics.

In Tokyo, Goverdhan reached one step closer to winning Nepal’s first-ever Paralympic medal when she won two repechage contests but lost her women’s 58kg K44 repechage bronze medal final to China’s Li Yujie.

Goverdhan had reached Tokyo via wildcard after missing the qualifiers due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

In March, Goverdhan became the first Nepali Paralympian to qualify for an Olympic event when she beat Iran’s Leila Mirzae in the finals of the Asian Qualification Tournament in Taiyang, China.

Para swimmer Bhim Bahadur Kumal will compete in the men’s 50m freestyle Heat on Monday.