Huang Chih-hsiung (黃志雄) narrowly missed being the third member of Team Taiwan to bring home a gold medal yesterday, being beaten by Iran's Hadi Saei Bonehkohal in the final of the taekwondo competition's men's under-68kg category at the Olympic Games in Athens.
Nevertheless Hung's silver still marks extraordinary sucess for the nation's taekwondo team, coming in the wake of the victories of his team mates Chu Mu-yen (朱木炎) in the men's under-58kg event and and Chen Shih-hsin (陳詩欣) in the women's under-48kg event on Thursday.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Back home, the entire country yesterday celebrated the victories of Chu and Chen. President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) paid a visit to the home of Chu's family in Taoyuan and Chen Shih-hsin's family in Taipei to honor the two sports heroes' outstanding achievements.
Encouraged by their teammates' extraordinary success, the 28-year-old Huang and his female teammate, 22-year-old Chi Shu-ju, (紀淑如), also made their attempts to be recognized as the best athletes in their weight categories.
Huang, was already soething of a national hero after winning numerous gold medals during his 16-year taekwondo career.
Chu fought in the women's under-57kg category.
Huang easily defeated Egypt's Tamer Hussein with a score of 8-1 during the preliminary round and entered the quarterfinal to fight with Austria's Tuncay Caliskan, who won his first victory by knocking out his opponent with a strong roundhouse kick to the head.
Huang fell behind Caliskan with a score of 1-3 after the end of first round, but he adjusted his tactics to made several successful offensive kicks to reverse the score at the end of the second round, finishing 6-5.
In the final round, Huang used his left foot to achieve three points consecutively, leaving the score 9-6. Then Caliskan began a more aggressive pattern of attacks, which revealed his weak defensive abilities and gave Huang another opportunity to score.
Huang won the match 10-8, entering the semifinals.
In the semifinal round, Huang defeated his opponent, Guatemala's Gabriel Sagastume with a score of 7-5. The first round began slowly, with Huang pulling ahead with a score of 1-0. In the second round, Sagastume gained steam as he and Huang exchanged blows with metronomic regularity, finishing the round with a 4-4 draw. In the final round, Huang adjusted his tactics and adopted a conservative approach, allowing Sagastume to initiate an attack before landing devastating counterblows on his opponent to pull ahead with a four-point lead, which was later reduced by two points on penalties.
Meanwhile, Chi beat her first opponent with a score of 8-0 in the preliminary round, during which she displayed her lightning-fast roundhouse kicks, also twice landing axe kicks on her opponent.
However, she fought too cautiously during her quarterfinal match with Thailand's Nootcharin Sukkhongdumnoen, resulting in her defeat by one point, with a narrow score of 1-2.
Meanwhile Thursday's gold medal winners, expressed their appreciation for the support of their countrymen, vowing that they will continue to develop their taekwondo careers to bring the nation further glory.
Hundreds of Taiwanese, who attended the competition at the Pavillion Stadium to cheer on the nation's taekwondo athletes, excitedly yelled the slogan "Taiwan No. 1" to celebrate Chu and Chen's victories.
These were Taiwan's first Olympic gold medals.
The victory ceremony to raise Taiwan's Olympic flag and sang the National Flag Song which was regulated by International Olympic Committee since 1981, also attracted international media's question of "why couldn't Taiwan use its national flag and national anthem?"
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
MATAIAN RIVER: Rescue operations were ongoing, with officials urging residents to move to higher floors where possible as teams focus first on those at ground level Floodwaters from the overflowing Mataian River (馬太鞍溪) barrier lake swept into Hualien County’s Guangfu Township (光復) yesterday afternoon, leaving hundreds of people trapped and three missing as of press time last night, the Hualien County Fire Bureau said. The waters surged into downtown Guangfu after the riverbank burst at about 2:50pm, carrying mud and debris and submerging streets to rooftop level in some areas. Residents were seen climbing onto vehicles and rooftops to await rescue as thick, silt-laden water inundated the town. The surge destroyed the Mataian Bridge (馬太鞍溪橋) and flooded the Guangfu Railway Station. Rescue operations were launched with support from fire departments
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