Despite being equipped with a group of fighters believed to be the country's best ever, the Taekwondo Association of Thailand's attempt to win its first Olympic gold medal ended in vain again in Rio de Janiero.
World No.2 and women's 49kg favourite Panipak Wongpattanakit, who was at least expected to reach the final, managed only to take a bronze medal while Phannapa Harnsujin (women's 57kg) did not even qualify for the medal rounds.
Luckily, little-known Tawin Harnprab (men's 58kg) rose to the occasion and captured a silver to spare the TAT officials their blushes.
The only consolation that the TAT can derive from the tournament is that Panipak and Tawin's successes made it the first time for Thailand to claim two medals in taekwondo in one Olympic Games.
In the three previous Games, the Thais had managed to take only one medal at each edition.
Failing to achieve the target might have disappointed many Thai fans, but TAT president Pimol Srivikorn seems to have taken the setback in his stride.
"With only three fighters, we won two medals. Overall, I am satisfied," said Pimol.
"Last time we had only one bronze, but this time we doubled that figure."
Before leaving for Rio, Pimol said that although the gold medal was the ultimate goal, "it isn't everything".
Failing to win gold does not mean that a sport has not made progress in Thailand, he said, adding that a medal contest is decided in a matter of a few minutes, whereas an association should be judged by its efforts over a long span.
Pimol took the helm of the association in 2007 and since then Thailand have had four world champions -- Rangsiya Nisaisom (2011), Chutchawal Khawlaor (2011), Chanatip Sonkham (2013) and Panipak (2015).
They were also successful in the Asian Games and SEA Games.
Earlier, the association had acquired the services of coach Choi Young-Seok from South Korea, who has been with the team since 2002.
Pimol believes that the South Korean is still a great asset for the team and that he will eventually coach Thai exponents to an Olympic gold medal.
Instead of blaming anyone in particular, Pimol points the finger at the Thai fighters' lack of experience for their failure to win the elusive Olympic gold medal.
While preparing for Rio 2016, Panipak was chosen ahead of experienced Chanatip, the bronze medallist at the 2012 London Games, in the hope that her physique would give her an advantage over her rivals at the Rio Olympics.
Unfortunately, it was her inexperience that cost her a chance to live up to her potential.
In the quarter-finals of the 49kg class, she lost after being kicked in the last four seconds by eventual champion Kim So-Hui of South Korea.
The 19-year-old Surat Thani native later said that competing in front of a big crowd and TV cameras in such a big tournament made her too nervous to perform to her best.
Failing to study the opponent carefully might be another reason for Panipak's failure.
Kim was never regarded as a serious challenger to second seed Panipak, who, according to the TAT, only had one tough opponent in two-time defending champion Wu Jinyu of China.
Surprisingly, both Panipak and Wu failed to reach the final.
Tawin, on the other hand, benefitted from being underestimated by his rivals.
Tawin, ranked 15th in the 58kg division, upset all the opponents until the final. He admitted that competing as an underdog made him feel relaxed.
The failure at the Rio Games is likely to act as catalyst in spurring the TAT into another major drive to improve the standard of its fighters.
If it can achieve that then the Kingdom can hope for another crack at the coveted gold.
It has four years at its disposal.