MANILA, Philippines – Three Filipino athletes, including one potential medal hopeful, bowed out of contention one after the other on Saturday as action in the 2016 Rio Olympics went full blast in different venues in and around Rio de Janeiro.

Ian Lariba of table tennis, who carried the Philippine flag during the opening ceremony on Friday evening, was the first to fall as she lost to Xing Han of Congo in straight sets, 11-7, 13-7, 11-9, 11-7, in a morning match at the Riocentro Pavillion 3.

"There are still some things lacking in my game," said the 21-year-old Lariba. "I can still feel the tension."

"But I will learn from this experience," she vowed.

(READ: Games begin in full, with US teen on target for 1st gold)

After Lariba's unsuccessful Olympic debut, swimmer Jessie Lacuna – participating in his second straight Olympics – failed to keep up with his rivals in the men's 400-m freestyle.

Lacuna, a 22-year-old student at Ateneo de Manila University, finished sixth among seven swimmers in Heat 2 of his event with a time of 4:01.70. It was well below his personal best of 3:55:34.

Mark Horton of Australia won the gold in the 400-m freestyle with a time of 3:41.55. Not even Lacuna's best time would have kept him close to the eighth and last finalist, Jordan Pothain of France, who finished with a time of 3:49.07.

After the twin defeats, members of the Philippine delegation had hoped for someone to save the day, and top officials trooped to Pavilion 6 of the same convention and exhibit center for the start of the boxing competition, where lightweight Charly Suarez made his Olympic debut against Joseph Cordina of Great Britain.

However, Suarez also took a bitter loss as two of the three judges saw the fight in Cordina's favor. Only the judge from Turkey scored the bout for Suarez, 29-28. Judges from Morocco (29-28) and Uzbekistan (30-27) scored the fight for Cordina.

The judge from Uzbekistan gave all three rounds to Cordina, including the second round wherein Suarez landed a couple of flush right straights to the face of his opponent.

The judges from Turkey and Morocco both had the Filipino winning the second round.

It was a bitter loss for Suarez, who thought he did enough to win the contest.

"Sa tingin ko, nanalo tayo, (I thought we won)," said Filipino coach Nolito "Boy" Velasco at the Athletes Village a couple of hours after Suarez failed to advance to the quarterfinals.

Velasco felt that Suarez did well, even in the third round, and was quite surprised that all three judges gave the final round to the British fighter.

"Halos hindi na sumuntok sa final round ang kalaban. Wala naman pinakita. Pero ganyan talaga," he said. "Puwede manalo, puwede matalo (The opponent barely threw punches in the third round, he didn't show anything. But that's how it goes – you win some, you lose some)."

Velasco said that although Suarez did well in the first two rounds, he instructed the boxer to pour it on in the final round to make sure he'd get the win.

"Ang sabi ko nga kay Charly, bombahin sa third round dahil baka madaya pa tayo (I told Charly to go all out in the third round because we might get robbed)," he said.

Suarez, who wanted to at least reach the medal rounds in his first Olympics, said he gave his best inside the ring but has accepted the decision of the judges.

"Sa tingin ko naman panalo ako, pero tanggap ko na. Magaling din naman 'yung Great Britain. Mataas at mahaba ((I thought I won, but I accept the loss. My opponent is also good. He's tall and he's rangy)," he said.

A small group of Filipinos based in Rio de Janeiro cheered from the stands and joined others who booed the decision.

With Suarez out of contention, the burden now falls on light-flyweight Rogen Ladon, who makes his debut on Monday against Colombia's Yurberjen Martinez, a 3-0 winner over Brazil's Patrick Lourenco earlier on Saturday.

Ladon, who drew a bye as the No. 5 seed in the 49-kg class, only needs to win two matches to assure himself of a bronze, and four matches to win the gold.

"'Yung hindi ko nakamit, baka makamit ni Ladon or sino man sa mga kasama natin (What I failed to achieve can be achieved by Ladon or anyone else from our team)," said Suarez.

Competing Sunday for the Philippines and determined to end the 20-year medal drought for the country are weightlifters Hidilyn Diaz (63 kg) and Nestor Colonia (56 kg).

The weightlifters are scheduled to compete starting at 3 p.m. Sunday.

"I will just give my best. I'm okay," said Diaz, who is competing in her third straight Olympics. "There's no problem with my training. There are no distractions here."

The others who are still waiting for their turn are judoka Kodo Nakano in the 81 kg on Aug. 9; swimmer Jasmine Alkhaldi, who vies in the women’s 100m freestyle on Aug. 10; golfer Miguel Tabuena from Aug. 11 to 14; marathoner Mary Joy Tabal on Aug. 14; hurdler Eric Cray on Aug. 15; long jumper Marestella Torres on Aug. 16; and taekwondo’s Kirstie Elaine Alora in the +67 kg on Aug. 20.

Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco watched Suarez compete, joined by POC officials Steve Hontiveros, Julian Camacho and Jose Romasanta, who is the chef-de-mission in this Olympics.

"Unfortunately, we could not get the win today," said Romasanta. "But we all saw them compete and fight hard. We still have others in contention."

(For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.)