There’s no savior in sight for the Philippine taekwondo team as three more Filipinos made quick exits in the 2009 World Taekwondo Championships at the Ballerup Super Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Flyweight Nicole Mapilisan, a first-timer in the team, suffered a crushing 13-1 defeat to Spain’s Joel Gonzalez after winning via default over Niasikhidin Vorisov of Tajikistan in the opening match.

Gonzalez eventually won the gold medal after scoring an 11-8 victory over Damian Vella of Mexico.

Flyweight Jyra Lizardo became the first Filipino to win a match after posting a 9-3 decision over Alejandra Mena of Chile but her celebration was short-lived as she lost to Yasmina Aziez of France, 9-5.

Karla Alava also cruised into the second round of the women’s featherweight, winning via disqualification over Lisa Weinzierl of Austria.

Like Lizardo, her effort fell short as she was beaten black and blue by Taiwanese Tseng Pei, 12-0.

Olympian Toni Rivero, Marlon Avenido and Alex Briones had earlier bombed out of the competition after losing to their superior rivals in performances that cast doubts on their medal chances in the coming SEA Games in Laos this December.

Still to compete for the RP team are Kathleen Alora (women’s bantam), two-time Olympian Tshomlee Go (men’s bantam) and Jeffrey Figueroa (men’s feather).

Alora tangles with Diahara Toure of Mali, Go faces the winner between Anatol Kachuk of Bulgaria and Alpheus Mikhonazi of Russia, and Figueroa clashes with Sweden’s Sebastian Lai.