Taiwan yesterday won four gold medals and six silvers at the Taipei Universiade in roller-skating, taekwondo and weightlifting.
Olympics bronze medalist Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳) last night won a gold in the 58kg weightlifting final after breaking the Universiade record by lifting 107kg in the snatch modality.
She then raised 142kg in the clean and jerk, which set a new world record.
Photo: CNA
Roller skaters Chen Yen-cheng (陳彥成) and Ko Fu-shiuan (柯福軒) began their pursuit of medals yesterday morning by securing a gold (20 points) and a silver (13 points) respectively, in the men’s 10,000m points-elimination race.
“I saw many people come into the skating rink before the event began, and I became excited after hearing them cheer for us. I decided that I would meet their expectations,” Chen said. “But once the event began I started to focus on executing strategies to win and barely heard the sounds from the sidelines.”
Yang Ho-chen (楊合貞) and Lee Meng-chu (李孟竹) clinched the gold and the silver respectively in the women’s roller skating 10,000m points-elimination race in the afternoon.
Photo: CNA
Yang said she was able to win the gold because her parents and coach were there to cheer for her and guide her, adding that her victory helped erase all the doubts she had about herself after her lackluster performance in the World Games in Poland earlier this year.
Kao Mao-chieh (高茂傑) won the silver in the men’s roller skating 300m time trial race, finishing at 24. 371 seconds.
Taiwan’s top speed skater, Sung Ching-yang (宋青陽), who was thought to have a good chance of winning gold in the event, fell to sixth place in the final due to an error committed at the curve, finishing in 24.939 seconds.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Chen Ying-chu (陳映竹) won silver after the 300m final was delayed about an hour by rain, finishing in 25.828 seconds.
Lee Cheng-gang (李晟綱) and Su Chia-en (蘇佳恩) beat their South Korean opponents to clinch the nation’s first gold in taekwondo in the Universiade in mixed pair poomsae.
Athletes competing in the men’s and women’s team poomsae won two more silvers.
Photo: Liu Hsin-de, Taipei Times
Other Taiwanese made progress in their preliminaries.
Lee Ya-hsuan (李亞軒) beat Brazilian Leticia Nayara Moura in two straight sets to move into the third round of women’s singles tennis.
Men’s singles tennis player Lee Kuan-yi (李冠毅) also cruised to the third round by beating Italian Marco Micunco.
The women’s volleyball team, formed by top players from the National Taiwan Normal University, the University of Taipei and Cheng Hsiu University, defeated the French national team in straight sets (25-23, 25-17 and 25-18) in their first win in the preliminary competition.
Taiwan’s men’s basketball team beat Hungarian national team 75-61.
The men’s soccer team suffered its second loss in the preliminaries, falling to France 0-1.
As of press time, the men’s volleyball team was down 0-1 against the US.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique