Taiwan got back on the medal trail yesterday in dramatic fashion on the penultimate day of action with three gold medals at the World Games in Kaohsiung.
The golds came in karate (one) and powerlifting (two), while Taiwanese athletes also picked up one bronze each in Karate and women’s nine ball pool.
Huang Hao-yun (黃昊昀) picked up a gold medal in the men’s karate kumite under 80kg final, although he probably knew little about it as he was taken to hospital after being knocked out by Russia’s Islamutdin Eldaruchev in his gold medal bout.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Huang had earlier fought his way back to 6-6 from 5-2 down in a violent bout that saw both men flattened on a number of occasions. However, his Russian opponent then knocked Huang out with a punch to the face that saw Huang stretchered off. Huang was handed an 8-0 win and the gold medal.
Minister of Sport Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) stood in for Huang at the medal ceremony, collecting the medal in front of an empty podium.
Meanwhile, Chang Ting(張婷) also won a bronze in the women’s under-60kg division.
Earlier in the day, Chen Wei-ling (陳葦綾) and Hsieh Tsung-ting (謝宗庭) were the stars as they grabbed gold in the powerlifting women’s and men’s lightweight divisions respectively while in the women’s pool Lin Yuan-chun took bronze after beating compatriot Chang Shu-han in the third-fourth place playoff.
The medals take Taiwan up to sixth spot in the overall medal table with eight gold, six silver and six bronze medals.
Olympic bronze medalist Chen set new world records in the deadlift and the squat at the National Sun Yat-sen University Hall which helped to make up for her bench press score, the poorest of her three disciplines.
Chen finished with a score of 668.27, well ahead of second-placed Yukaku Fukushima of Japan who scored 630.65.
Chen said later that she was happy to win gold at the World Games, especially as they were in Taiwan.
“I felt I had a good chance to win, so I didn’t feel that much pressure,” she said.
Indonesia’s Sri Hartani finished with bronze after scoring 628.9 while Taiwan’s Chou Yi-ju finished fourth with 609.27 points.
Meanwhile, Hsieh took gold after his three lifts earned him a combined total of 615.92 points, while Arkadiy Shalokha of Ukraine took silver with 584.37.
Speaking after the medal ceremony, Hsieh thanked his namesake former Kaohsiung mayor Frank Hsieh for all the support and encouragement he had given him.
Later, Taiwan’s Chou Chien-yu just missed out on a medal finishing just 2.9 points short of third place in the women’s middleweight division.
Men’s middleweight powerlifters Huang Lung-hsin and Kuan Yi-hsin also missed out on a medal, while the men’s heavyweight final featuring Chen Ching-chung was ongoing as of press time.
In the women’s pool, Lin and Chang were forced to face off in the bronze medal match after Chang had lost her semi-final in the early session 9-2 to Jasmin Ouschan of Austria while Lin Yuan-chun was beaten 9-5 by Alison Fisher of the UK.
Men’s hope Yang Ching-shun stayed on track for gold after narrowly beating Germany’s Thorsten Hohmann 11-10 in the round of four to make the final where he will meet Ralf Souquet of Germany.
Also yesterday, Taiwan’s Tchoukball teams continued their awesome form on day two of qualifying at the Kaoshiung Normal University Gymnasium yesterday.
The men’s team scored a big win against Macau in their first game of the day, winning 64-28, while the ladies ran out 75-22 winners over Singapore.
In the evening games the men beat the UK 73-42 and the ladies beat Canada 57-22. The wins saw them finish top of their respective tables and qualify for the final. The women’s and men’s gold medal matches will take place at 12.45pm and 2pm today.
Also See: Fiji sweep all before them, Taiwan finish in sixth
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
‘OF COURSE A COUNTRY’: The president outlined that Taiwan has all the necessary features of a nation, including citizens, land, government and sovereignty President William Lai (賴清德) discussed the meaning of “nation” during a speech in New Taipei City last night, emphasizing that Taiwan is a country as he condemned China’s misinterpretation of UN Resolution 2758. The speech was the first in a series of 10 that Lai is scheduled to give across Taiwan. It is the responsibility of Taiwanese citizens to stand united to defend their national sovereignty, democracy, liberty, way of life and the future of the next generation, Lai said. This is the most important legacy the people of this era could pass on to future generations, he said. Lai went on to discuss
MISSION: The Indo-Pacific region is ‘the priority theater,’ where the task of deterrence extends across the entire region, including Taiwan, the US Pacific Fleet commander said The US Navy’s “mission of deterrence” in the Indo-Pacific theater applies to Taiwan, Pacific Fleet Commander Admiral Stephen Koehler told the South China Sea Conference on Tuesday. The conference, organized by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), is an international platform for senior officials and experts from countries with security interests in the region. “The Pacific Fleet’s mission is to deter aggression across the Western Pacific, together with our allies and partners, and to prevail in combat if necessary, Koehler said in the event’s keynote speech. “That mission of deterrence applies regionwide — including the South China Sea and Taiwan,” he
UNPRECEDENTED: In addition to the approved recall motions, cases such as Ma Wen-chun’s in Nantou are still under review, while others lack enough signatures The Central Election Commission (CEC) announced yesterday that a recall vote would take place on July 26, after it approved the first batch of recall motions targeting 24 Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers and Hsinchu Mayor Ann Kao (高虹安). Taiwan is in the midst of an unprecedented wave of mass recall campaigns, following a civil society push that echoed a call made by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘) in January to initiate signature drives aimed at unseating KMT legislators. Under the Civil Servants Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法), Taiwanese can initiate a recall of district-elected lawmakers by collecting
RSS