Taiwanese women continued their good showing at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, with weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳) winning the nation’s third medal and three others reaching the quarter-finals at table tennis and tennis events.
Kuo won a bronze medal in the women’s 58kg division, but she said she was disappointed by her performance.
Having won the Asian Weightlifting Championships in late April by lifting a total of 238kg, Kuo was left in tears after lifting a total of 231kg in Rio de Janeiro, attributing her disappointing performance to nerves.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
“Nerves caused my body to be out of sync. It is all on me,” she said, adding that she had trouble with her technique rather than the weight itself. “In the past, the day before a competition, I needed to check my water intake, but this time I controlled everything very well.”
“Being in such good shape and then not having it show in the results” was hard to accept, she said.
“I did not do as well as I wanted,” she added. “I am very disappointed. I hope I can have a better result in the next Olympic Games. This medal does not meet my expectations, but I will keep doing my best and keep trying to attend competitions.”
Photo: CNA
She ranked eighth at the 2012 London Olympics.
Taiwan’s top female table tennis player, Cheng I-ching (鄭怡靜), won two matches on Monday, securing a spot in the women’s table tennis quarter-finals.
Cheng first faced 38-year-old Belarussian Viktoria Pavlovich, whose assortment of slices and effective defensive style initially confused the 24-year-old Taiwanese.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
However, Cheng found the patience to cope with Pavlovich’s approach, only to struggle late in the match before playing her best in the final game to ultimately win the match 7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 7-11, 11-2.
She then faced South Korean Suh Hyo-won, 29, for a spot in the final eight.
Cheng said Suh was an opponent who had given her trouble in the past, but sped to a 3-0 lead and was seemingly on her way to an easy victory when Suh changed strategies and went on the offensive. Cheng recovered after a timeout and defeated Suh 11-5, 11-9, 11-3, 4-11, 5-11, 9-11, 11-7.
She was scheduled to play Li Xiaoxia (李曉霞) of China in the quarter-finals yesterday.
Li won gold in the women’s singles at the 2012 London Olympics.
On the tennis court, the third-seeded sister pairing of Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and Chan Yung-jan (詹詠然) beat British pair Johanna Konta and Heather Watson 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 to advance to the women’s doubles quarter-finals.
They are to face Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland in the quarter-finals tomorrow.
After three full days of competitions in Rio de Janeiro, Taiwan was one of 20 nations to have won a gold medal and one of 13 nations to have won at least three medals.
Prior to Kuo’s bronze on Monday, Taiwanese athletes won a weightlifting gold medal in the women’s 53kg division and a bronze medal in the women’s team event in archery on Sunday.
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
FREEDOM OF NAVIGATION: The UK would continue to reinforce ties with Taiwan ‘in a wide range of areas’ as a part of a ‘strong unofficial relationship,’ a paper said The UK plans to conduct more freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea, British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs David Lammy told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. British Member of Parliament Desmond Swayne said that the Royal Navy’s HMS Spey had passed through the Taiwan Strait “in pursuit of vital international freedom of navigation in the South China Sea.” Swayne asked Lammy whether he agreed that it was “proper and lawful” to do so, and if the UK would continue to carry out similar operations. Lammy replied “yes” to both questions. The
‘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
RSS