Taiwan had reason to smile on the second day of the 21st Deaflympics after bagging one gold, two silvers and a bronze in martial arts.
The wins brought the nation’s overall medal standing to third place behind Russia and Ukraine, with a total of five medals.
Considered a shoo-in before the Games started, Lu Szu-jou (呂思柔) clinched the nation’s second gold medal by winning the women’s taekwondo under-57kg category after beating her Latvian foe Laura Gaile 7-0 in the final.
PHOTO: CNA
She had an easy win against Canadian Renee Pardy in her first match, but struggled hard in her second bout against Puerto Rico’s Aurora Roma. The two locked horns for four intense rounds, the maximum number of rounds permissible. At the end, the judges declared Lu the winner, allowing her to advance.
Lu’s performance brought some members of the audience — and some reporters — to tears, but coach Chou Kuei-ming (周桂名) said she had not done her best.
“I was really nervous in the sudden death round, but I was afraid of disappointing my family and the fans,” Lu said.
Teammate Lin Bo-chong (林柏聰) won a silver in the men’s under 68kg category after losing to South Korea’s Kim Min-jae, but Chou said Lin’s chance of gold was blocked by the judges’ “unfair calls.”
Chou said Kim fell several times during the round, but the judges didn’t subtract any points from him.
“If the judges had done so, I strongly believe Lin would have been the winner. He outperformed his opponent. Lin is on pain medication right now because of a foot injury but he still competed. That’s how tenacious an athlete he is,” the coach said.
Lin did not want to elaborate on Chou’s comments. He said he was honored to have won a medal for his country, but he hinted this might be his last major world competition given that he would be 31 by the 2013 Games in Athens.
Meanwhile, Tai Wen-chi (戴文祺) won Taiwan’s second silver medal, losing to Takahiro Kojima of Japan 2-4 in the karate under-67kg category. The two were neck-and-neck in the final round and were tied 1-1 one minute before the end.
In the last minute, Kojima delivered a straight blow to Tai’s head, knocking him down and picking up three points.
Tai won another point in the final 24 seconds, but to no avail.
In the under-75kg category, Huang Chi-yang (黃棋煬) took home the nation’s first bronze medal after losing 3-6 to France’s Michael Menant and 3-5 to Venezuela’s Omar Velis.
Taiwan’s badminton team beat the British squad 3-2 in Group A. In the afternoon, Taiwan trumped Group C’s team Kazakhstan 3-0, securing a place in the final four.
Taiwan’s handball team’s 37-27 win against Turkey raised its chances of being in the final four if Turkey lose to Germany, the 2005 champions, in today’s match.
Two new 100m men’s butterfly world records were set yesterday — Russian Ilya Trishkin swam 0:54.92 in the men’s heats and Italian Luca Germano swam 0:56.47 in the women’s heats.
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)