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DEAFLYMPICS TAIPEI 2009: 'Golden Girls' settle for tennis silver

Taiwan’s An Ching-lung competes in the Deaflympics men’s decathlon yesterday. An finished the 110m hurdles portion of the event in 15.94 seconds and won the bronze. PHOTO: CNA

Taiwan’s Ho Chiu-mei (何秋美) and Ho Chiu-hsiang (何秋香) settled for silver medals in women’s doubles tennis at the Deaflympics yesterday, while An Ching-lung (安慶隆) took home the bronze in the decathlon.

The “Golden Girls” lost to their German opponents 6-2, 2-6, 1-6 at the Rainbow Riverside Sports Park.

The battle was tough, as the elder sister, Ho Chiu-hsiang, had cramps in both legs by the third set. The two lost one game when the match referee ruled that they had delayed the proceedings too long.

Both decided to continue the fight, with Ho Chiu-mei handling the attack from their opponents and her elder sister playing the ball while stationary on the court whenever she could.

Despite the crisis, the two managed to win one game in the third set.

When their opponents threatened with four match points, the sisters broke three before finally handing the Germans the victory.

Ho Chiu-hsiang was later sent to the emergency room for treatment.

Taiwan’s An Ching-lung launches into a vault during the pole vault discipline of the decathlon event at Taipei Municipal Stadium yesterday. PHOTO: SUN CHUNG-TA, TAIPEI TIMES

“I asked her if she wanted to continue,” Ho Chiu-mei told reporters.

“I said we’d quit if she could not handle the game anymore. She said she could carry on. We thought: ‘We’re competing in the Deaflympics in Taipei, in Taiwan, in a championship match. We should do everything we can to fight until the end,’” Ho Chiu-mei said.

Their coach, Chang Yue-han (張約翰), said that Ho Chiu-hsiang was hoping to take down her opponents by moving quickly around the court.

Sisters Ho Chiu-hsiang, right, and Ho Chiu-mei show off their silver medals after the women’s doubles tennis final in Taipei yesterday. PHOTO: CHIEN JUNG-FONG, TAIPEI TIMES

“Chiu-hsiang is 50, and Amei [Ho Chiu-mei] is 47, the two oldest athletes in tennis,” Chang said.

“When you add up the ages of our opponents, it’s pretty much equal to the age of either one of them. What she [Ho Chiu-hsiang] considered the best strategy became the key to their failure,” Chang said.

In the decathlon at Taipei Municipal Stadium, An Ching-lung won the bronze medal after scoring a total of 6,106 points. Russian Kirill Tsybizov secured the gold with a total of 6,500 points, while Craig Saafeld from the US nailed the silver by gaining 6,381 points.

“He is the pride of the Amis Tribe, the pride of the Aborigines and the pride of Taiwan,” said An’s coach, Wang Wen-hsiang (王文祥).

An finished third in the 110m hurdles and secured fifth in the discus category. He ranked second in the pole vault after clearing 4.2m and then threw the javelin 48.31m. When he finished sixth in the 1,500m, An lay on the ground and pointed his fingers to the sky, which he said was a gesture to thank God.

Though he won the gold in 2001 and a silver in 2005, An said the bronze medal meant more to him than his previous medals because this had been the highest score he has attained. An scored 5,613 points at the 2005 Deaflympics in Melbourne, Australia.

Wang said An had done his best in the competition, noting that An was 10 years older than the average age of the decathletes.

Meanwhile, the nation failed in its bid to win another gold in table tennis as the two men’s doubles teams were eliminated in the second round of the preliminaries and in the quarter-finals yesterday.

Wen Chih-hsuan (溫智璇) and Yang Jung-Tsung (楊榮宗), the champions at the 2005 Deaflympics, lost to China’s Li Yunnan and Wang Cong. Their teammates, Chiang Feng-ming (江豐明) and Kuo Yueh-tung (郭岳東), managed to get to the quarter-finals, where they were soon eliminated by Andrii Gnatiuk Gennadii Zakladnyi of Ukraine.

Taiwan’s men’s and women’s badminton doubles pairings were also eliminated in the quarter-final.

In the women’s singles, Fan Jung-yu (范榮玉) failed to make the quarter-finals when she lost to Lithuania’s Kristina Dovydaityte.

Also See: DEAFLYMPICS TAIPEI 2009: Ukraine, Russia to battle for final gold
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