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Chen Szu-yuan out of the medal race in Athens

Chen Szu-yuan fires off an arrow during the third round of the men's archery individual eliminations at the Olympic Games in the Panathinaiko Stadium in Athens yesterday. PHOTO: AP

Taiwanese archer Chen Szu-yuan (陳詩園) dropped out of the medal race yesterday after the UK's Laurence Godfrey beat him by two points in the quarterfinal of the Olympic men's individual competition.

The final score stood at 108-110 after Chen managed to get six 10s from his 12 arrows. With three arrows left, he was leading the match with 86-83.

But the pressure seemed to get to him at the end. He got two 7s and one 8 with his last three arrows, allowing his opponent to reverse the game.

Chen entered the quarterfinals yesterday by defeating his Russian opponent Balzhinima Tsyr-empilov, raising new hopes that he could win a medal for the nation.

"I did not pay any attention to my opponent. Instead, I focused on my bow," said Chen after his victory in the early rounds.

Chen, the only Taiwanese athlete that still had a chance of winning an individual medal, defeated his Russian adversary 169-161. He shot a total of nine 10s, including five on his last six arrows.

Chen said that he was not affected by the frustration the women's team suffered and just concentrated on adjusting his personal conditions to the best effect.

Yuan Shu-chi (袁叔琪) of the women's team was on Wednesday defeated at the last minute by the UK's Alison Williamson, who took the bronze medal.

"We have world-class archers, especially our female athletes, and the setback in the women's individual competition taught us that we should enhance the psychological factor," Taiwan's head coach, Tang Chin-lan (湯金蘭), said yesterday.

"Yuan did her best to defeat South Korea's best archer, Yun Mi-jin, during the quarterfinals and it seemed that Yuan did not do enough preparation for the next two matches [the semifinal and bronze competition,]" Tang said.

Fortunately, Tang said, Yuan and teammate Wu Hui-ju (吳蕙如) recovered quickly from the frustration and vowed to get back on form in the archery team competition today.

The Taiwanese women's archery team ranked third in the preliminary rounds, while the men's team ranked second, which made them highly likely candidates for winning medals.

Another possible medal candidate is Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵), who is considered to have a good chance of placing in the men's single table tennis competition. Chuang defeated South Korea's Oh Sanf Eun 4-2 on Wednesday and will take on China's Wang Hao (王皓) during the quarterfinal today.

"Chuang and Wang have been described as two of the world's top four future stars. They both not only have extraordinary skill, but also top speed," said Lee Kuei-mei (李貴美), table tennis team coach and also Chuang's mother.

"Chuang, who is used to playing alone in different games around the world over the past few years, is also famous for his iron will," said Cheng I-ching (鄭益青), an online table tennis columnist.

"In his past four matches, Chuang had three wins and one loss," Cheng said.

Meanwhile, the Taiwanese men's baseball team and women's softball team were both defeated on Wednesday. Cuba's baseball team defeated Taiwan 10-2, while China's softball team won 1-0.

In the baseball match, Taiwan's starter Tu Chang-wei (杜章偉) was given four hits, including a solo home run at the second inning by Cuba's seventh batter, Eriel Sanchez, and earned three runs.

Lin Ying-chieh (林英傑), top Taiwanese pitcher of the Macoto Cobras of the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL), succeeded Tu from the third inning and successfully suppressed Cuba until the seventh inning.

Lin's nerve was shattered at the eighth inning by Cuba getting two hits. Head coach Hsu Sheng-ming (徐生明) sent on Keng Po-hsuan (耿伯軒) as second set-up.

Keng, a 19-year-old rookie of the national team and university freshman, was obviously nervous standing on the pitcher's plate.

He did not take out any Cuban batters, but was given four hits.

Huang Chun-chung (黃俊中) was immediately assigned to replace Keng and made Cuba's ninth batter, Carlos Tabares, fly out, then struck out Eduardo Paret, and ended the inning by grounding out Michel Enriquez.

Cuba earned its last two runs at the ninth inning while Taiwan grained two runs, from the eighth and ninth innings.

Taiwan has now racked up three wins and three losses in the preliminary sessions, and has to gain two wins from its last three games against Italy, Japan and the Netherlands.

"The match with the Netherlands will be the crucial one for Taiwan's hope to enter the final four," sport commentator Tseng Wen-cheng (曾文誠) said.

"Since Australia defeated Japan, if Australia also beats Canada to get five wins and two losses during the preliminary round, then it will replace Taiwan to enter the final four," Tseng said.

Also see stories:
US looks to its veterans to restore Olympic glory
Legendary Dutch cyclist calls it quits after gold

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