Taiwan got back on the medal trail at the World Games yesterday with a silver medal in jujitsu and a bronze in korfball.
After a lull on Monday in which Taiwan earned just one silver in the softball, an invitational event, the nation’s athletes returned to their winning ways yesterday.
The two medals took Taiwan’s overall haul to a healthy five gold, five silver and three bronze in the first five days of competition, putting the nation fourth in the medals table.
Yang Hsien-tzu narrowly missed out on jujitsu gold, losing to Sabrina Hatzky of Germany in the final of the women’s 62kg division at the Sun Yat-sen University Gymnasium.
Earlier, in the men’s 69kg category, Liu Chieng-hung lost out on a bronze medal when he was defeated by Germany’s Andrej Tierbach in the repechage.
The nation’s first medal of the day had come earlier at the National Kaohsiung University gym as Taiwan secured third place and a bronze in the korfball third-fourth place playoff match against Russia. Leading 15-10 at halftime, Taiwan extended their lead in the second half on the back of some sharp shooting from No. 11 Wu Chun-hsien, who finished the match with six goals.
The Netherlands beat Belgium 25-20 for the gold medal and retained their title in a battle between the two traditional korfball powers.
Meanwhile, the second day of boules at the 228 Memorial Park saw Taiwanese duo Chen Hung-wen and Sun Chaia-yi grab another win, beating Belgium 13-6 to qualify for the final four before losing 13-4 against the same opponents in the semi-final. The women, however, were eliminated after another defeat when they lost 6-4 to Israel.
In the boules raffa, men’s doubles duo Chen Hung-ting and Huang Wei-hsiang were eliminated after being soundly beaten 15-0 by Brazil.
In the ladies’ division Chung Yu-chun and Tang Ya-ting suffered the same fate, losing 15-1 to Italian duo Loana Capelli and Elisa Luccarini.
The women’s boules Lyonnaise precision-throw preliminary round saw Taiwan’s Tsao Chia-hui go into the bronze-medal match after finishing fourth, while in the men’s event Huang Hsien-chang was eliminated after finishing fifth. In the shuttle throw semi-finals, home girl Huang Yu-ju finished fourth and was eliminated.
Meanwhile, in the 10-pin bowling singles, Wang Yu-ling qualified for the women’s top 10 round today, while compatriot Fang Chin-nan failed, finishing 13th overall in the men’s qualifying.
Also See: Taiwan suffers big losses in squash and air sports
CROSS-STRAIT COLLABORATION: The new KMT chairwoman expressed interest in meeting the Chinese president from the start, but she’ll have to pay to get in Beijing allegedly agreed to let Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) around the Lunar New Year holiday next year on three conditions, including that the KMT block Taiwan’s arms purchases, a source said yesterday. Cheng has expressed interest in meeting Xi since she won the KMT’s chairmanship election in October. A source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a consensus on a meeting was allegedly reached after two KMT vice chairmen visited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Song Tao (宋濤) in China last month. Beijing allegedly gave the KMT three conditions it had to
‘BALANCE OF POWER’: Hegseth said that the US did not want to ‘strangle’ China, but to ensure that none of Washington’s allies would be vulnerable to military aggression Washington has no intention of changing the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Saturday, adding that one of the US military’s main priorities is to deter China “through strength, not through confrontation.” Speaking at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California, Hegseth outlined the US Department of Defense’s priorities under US President Donald Trump. “First, defending the US homeland and our hemisphere. Second, deterring China through strength, not confrontation. Third, increased burden sharing for us, allies and partners. And fourth, supercharging the US defense industrial base,” he said. US-China relations under
The Chien Feng IV (勁蜂, Mighty Hornet) loitering munition is on track to enter flight tests next month in connection with potential adoption by Taiwanese and US armed forces, a government source said yesterday. The kamikaze drone, which boasts a range of 1,000km, debuted at the Taipei Aerospace and Defense Technology Exhibition in September, the official said on condition of anonymity. The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology and US-based Kratos Defense jointly developed the platform by leveraging the engine and airframe of the latter’s MQM-178 Firejet target drone, they said. The uncrewed aerial vehicle is designed to utilize an artificial intelligence computer
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday decided to shelve proposed legislation that would give elected officials full control over their stipends, saying it would wait for a consensus to be reached before acting. KMT Legislator Chen Yu-jen (陳玉珍) last week proposed amendments to the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法) and the Regulations on Allowances for Elected Representatives and Subsidies for Village Chiefs (地方民意代表費用支給及村里長事務補助費補助條例), which would give legislators and councilors the freedom to use their allowances without providing invoices for reimbursement. The proposal immediately drew criticism, amid reports that several legislators face possible charges of embezzling fees intended to pay