Tapper, who defeated Chinese Taipei's Lin Tzu Li in her opening match on Wednesday, couldn't carry her form through to the second match in her bid for Paralympic gold.

Tapper pushed Costa Alexandre for all points but couldn't score as the South American powered to comprehensive wins in all three matches.

Costa Alexandre won the first match 11-7, the second in a 11-2 thumping and the final 11-6.

Coste Alexandre will next play Tzu Li on Friday in a fixture which will determine which players advance to the quarter finals.

Tapper, who also represented Australia at the Olympic games this past month, was considered a strong chance to medal at the Tokyo event.

The 31-year-old will have no match on Friday.

Camperdown's Josh Hose again watched from the bench as his Australian Steelers won out against wheelchair rugby dark horse France on Thursday night.

The Steelers were vying to make amends for a shock loss to Denmark on Wednesday, with captain Ryley Batt again a strong presence as they ran out 50-48 winners.

The match was even stevens as both teams battled neck-and-neck at the three-quarter time and final break.

The victory revived the Steelers' gold medal bid.

Australia will play off against hot favourites Japan on Friday at 3pm AEST.

Warrnambool rower Kathryn Ross' Paralympics campaign will begin on Friday, with the 40-year-old set to team with mixed double sculls partner Simon Albury at 11.50am AEST.

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