Bangladesh's maiden Asian Games campaign in surfing came to a close on Sunday as both Mohammad Mannan and Fatema Akter fell in the second round of the shortboard event at Long Beach, Tahara, in Aichi, Japan.

Mannan lost a tight men's contest to Thailand's Tinn Johnson, who edged him 9.40 to 8.50. In the women's draw, South Korea's Sujung Im ousted Fatema with a comfortable 8.73 to 3.84 scoreline.

The pair, both from Cox's Bazar, took part in the opening heat on Friday.

Mannan finished second in the three-member heat five with 5.74 points — 3.17 from his first scoring wave and 2.57 from his second — while Fatema placed third in heat two with 2.92 points, built on a 2.50 first wave and 0.83 second wave that was later trimmed to 0.42 after an interference penalty.

In both men’s and women’s events, only the heat winners progressed directly to the quarterfinals while the remaining surfers moved on to the eliminator round, which included Mannan and Fatema.

Earlier, their campaign was clouded in some controversy after their regular coach Rashed Alam, who guided the pair through the qualifying Asian Surfing Championship event in Tamil Nadu last year, was left out of Bangladesh’s Asian Games contingent.

Fatema, a schoolgirl from Cox's Bazar, and Mannan, who earns a living selling seashell jewellery, remain trailblazers regardless of the second-round exits, as thanks to them, Bangladesh featured in the very first appearance of surfing in the Asian Games.