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DEAFLYMPICS TAIPEI 2009: Taiwan snatches table tennis team gold

Taiwan added one gold, three silvers and a bronze to its Deaflympics medal tally yesterday, bringing the nation’s total medal haul to 19. This leaves Taiwan third in the overall standings, behind Russia and Ukraine.

As reigning champions, the men’s table tennis team, led by Wen Chih-hsuan (溫智璇), did the country proud by beating Ukraine 3-1 in the final, bagging Taiwan’s sixth gold since the Games started six days ago.

The team’s big gun Wen opened the match with a 3-0 win, but Ukraine hit back in the second match, when Yang Jung-tsung (楊榮宗) lost 1-3.

Newcomer Kuo Yue-tong (郭岳東) put Taiwan ahead by winning the third match 3-1, leaving the door wide open for a gold.

Wen’s duel against Gennadii Zakladnyi in the final match got off to a shaky start when he lost the first two games, but he hit back to win the next three to secure the win and defend Taiwan’s title.

Earlier, 19-year-old Huang Pei-wei (黃培偉) clinched a silver in the men’s taekwondo over-80kg category. After beating Argentina’s Ariel Chavez 5-0 to reach the final he found South Korea’s Lim Dae-ho an altogether tougher proposition as he went down in a 0-7 defeat.

Lim, also a kung fu specialist, attacked aggressively from the beginning, leaving Huang little room to counterattack.

“South Korea is always our most feared opponent. After all, the sport originated in that country and they have an excellent training regime. Many Taiwanese taekwondo athletes get extra-nervous when facing South Koreans and Huang was no exception today,” said Taiwan head coach Chiu Kong-cheng (邱共鉦), urging the government and public to support the sport by giving it additional funding.

Also yesterday, Kao Ya-ju (高雅茹) nabbed a silver in the women’s 25m air pistol with a total score of 743.7, one place behind the Russian champion Valeria Kladovikova’s 747.5.

Her coach said Kao was slightly rattled when her pistol jammed during qualification, costing her the chance of gold.

The 2008 World Deaf Athletics Championship men’s hammer throw silver medalist Lin Ken (林根) yesterday claimed bronze with a distance of 54.94m, breaking his personal best of 54.27m.

His Japanese opponent Masatoshi Morimoto broke the world and Games record by throwing 61.08m.

Lin, a 22-year-old Atayal, said he had learned a lot from Morimoto after competing against and losing to him twice before. His coach, however, said Lin’s physical strength was superior to that of the Japanese and he remained confident that Lin would continue to shine at international events in future years.

On the track Chen Lan-feng (陳蘭鳳), who won a bronze in the women’s 400m hurdles at the last Deaflympics, could only finish seventh this time round.

Also taking silver were women’s doubles bowlers Chen Wen-ni (陳溫妮) and Wang Yu-chin (王玉琴), who scored 2,140, just seven points behind the champion duo from Finland, Tuulikki Kipelainen and Satu Lintula.

Meanwhile, Taiwan’s tennis queen Ho Chiu-mei (何秋美), 47, advanced to the final after defeating Catherine Graham of the US, 21 years her junior, 6-2, 6-3. Ho faces Barbara Oddone in the women’s singles tomorrow.

Despite the five medals, Taiwan’s overall performance was mixed, as many medal hopefuls and record holders were eliminated from their events.

Female 200m breaststroke swimmer Chen Chuan-ni (陳涓妮) was sent packing after placing only 10th in qualification, while Pan Cheng’s (潘政) 0:30:16 in the men’s 50m backstroke was not good enough.

Although Taiwan’s Kuo Chia-mi (郭嘉秘) trumped her opponents in Tuesday’s women’s sprint orienteering, she could only finish sixth in yesterday’s middle distance event.

Kuo was also eliminated from the women’s discus throw, in which she won a bronze in the 2001 Rome Deaflympics.

Taiwan’s women’s basketball lost 40-82 to Greece and will battle it out against Hong Kong for ninth place tomorrow.

HEALTH SCARE

Meanwhile, there has been some confusion about two foreign athletes attending the Deaflympics, who were reportedly infected with the H1N1 virus and banned from the games.

Officials said on Monday that a Japanese soccer player had tested positive for the H1N1 virus and early yesterday, Chiu Wen-hsiang, medical supervisor for the Games, told reporters that an Israeli basketball player had also been infected.

“They have been banned from the Games and have been put into isolation in their hotels,” he said.

Chiu said both athletes fell ill after arriving in Taipei, but it was not clear if they were infected in their own countries or in Taiwan.

Taipei City’s Department of Health, however, announced yesterday that further examination of the Japanese athlete found that he had contracted the H3 strain.

The department said that it had been verified that the Israeli player was suffering from A-type flu, but at press time it still hadn’t been determined if he had A(H1N1) flu.

Swine flu is spreading quickly in Taiwan. As of yesterday, 161 people have been infected: 49 remain hospitalized and 11 have died.

ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DPA AND STAFF WRITER
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