NAGOYA, Japan—Filipino fencers absorbed tough defeats in the 20th Asian Games with Olympian Sam Catantan crashing out after yielding to South Korea’s Park Jihee, 15-10, in the quarterfinals of women’s individual foil event on Wednesday at the Aichi Sky Expo on Wednesday.

Fighting through tears, the 24-year-old fencer kept her head held high.

“I’m really proud with how I fenced today. Up to the end, I did not give up. So I’m very proud of that. Unfortunately, it’s sports, it could go either way,” Catantan said.

Hoping to learn from her Asian Games journey, Catantan is looking to improve moving forward.

“One of my main goals for this tournament is to see where I’m at currently and work after to be better and to hopefully get better results for the upcoming Olympic qualifying season,” she said.

“Every competition, the key takeaway is to never give up, aim for better results, and work harder,” she added.

Christian Jhester Concepcion and Eunice Daniel Villanueva bowed to their respective opponents in men’s individual sabre.

Concepcion bowed to Iran’s Mohammad Fotouhi Firozabad, 7-15, in the round of 16 while Villanueva lost to Saudi Arabia’s Adel Mukhlid Almutairi, 9-15, in the round of 32.

Catantan’s younger sister, Janna, fell to Singapore’s Maxine Jie Xin Wong, 2-15, in the round of 32 of the women’s individual foil event.

Four more fencers will compete on Thursday—Jian Miguel Bautista and Noelito Jose Jr. in men’s épée and Jylyn Nicanor and Queen Denice Dalmacio in women’s sabre individual events.