Two-time Universiade gold medallist Patiwat Thongsalap left the Ballerup Super Arena in Copenhagen, Denmark, disappointed on Sunday, as Thai exponents captured four medals in the WTF World Taekwondo Championships.
Lightweight Patiwat, who was hampered by an injury to his ring finger, failed to get past the quarter-finals, falling to American Mark Lopez, a silver medallist at the Beijing Games, 5-3.
Patiwat, who received a first-round bye, outpointed Afghan Sayed Karimi 12-7 and Belarusian Vitali Kolas 7-6 in the second and third rounds. The Thai maintained his impressive form, beating Greek Anostis Nikolaidis 7-5 in the last 16 round.
Chonnapas Premwaew lightened up the mood in the Thai camp with a bronze on the final day.
Lightweight Chonnapas, a bronze medallist at the 2005 world meet in Madrid, lost in sudden death after a 1-1 tie at the end of the three-round contest against China's Zhang Hua, a champion at Martial Arts Games in Bangkok this year.
En route the semi-finals, Chonnapas, crushed Turkey's Sibel Sagir 9-2 and Australian Carmen Marton, bronze medallist at the 2005 world meet in Madrid, 7-3 in the second and third rounds.
The Thai fighter stunned Canadian Karine Sergerie, defending world champion and silver medallist at the last year's Beijing Olympics, 6-4 before going down in the semi-finals.
After five days, Thailand's eight-member squad clinched four medals, including a silver from Sarita Phongsri in the women's bantamweight (U-53) class.
"We had a chance of winning gold this time. However, the presence of world-class rivals from Iran, South Korea, USA, China and Afghanistan made it tough for us. We won four medals here, the same as in the world meet in China two years ago. We left Beijing with three silver and a bronze. We can take comfort from the fact that Thailand was the only Southeast Asian country to return with medals," said Korean head coach Choi Young-suk.