Taiwanese artistic gymnast Lee Chih-kai (李智凱) yesterday won a gold medal in the men’s pommel horse event at the 2019 Summer Universiade in Naples, Italy, in a repeat of his victory at the 2017 Summer Universiade in Taipei.
Lee advanced to the finals with the highest score of 15.150 among 55 athletes and won gold with 15.400, besting seven other finalists with his “Thomas Flair” technique.
He was the only athlete to receive a score higher than 15 and became the first Taiwanese gymnast to win consecutive golds at the Universiade.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation
Nariman Kurbanov of Kazakhstan won the event’s silver medal with 14.700 points, while Kazuma Kaya of Japan won the bronze with a score of 14.500.
Lee, known as “the Pommel Horse Prince” in Taiwan, is looking to enter the top 12 in the all-round category at the 49th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany, in October, for an outright berth at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Lee on Saturday clinched a bronze in the men’s all-round event with a score of 83.950 points.
Meanwhile, Wang Hsing-hao (王星皓) won bronze in the men’s 200m individual medley final with a time of 1:59.87, making him the first Taiwanese at the Naples Games to claim a medal in swimming.
In the semi-final, Wang broke his own national record of 2:01.25 that he set last month, with a time of 2:00.55, and again broke the record in the final.
His finish time — 1:59.87 — was only 0.2 seconds slower than needed to qualify for the 200m individual medley at next year’s Tokyo Olympic Games.
The gold medal went to Japan’s Juran Mizohata with a time of 1:58.88, followed by Joe Litchfield of the UK with 1:59.28.
Wang next competes on Wednesday in the men’s 400m individual medley.
The 30th Summer Universiade began on Wednesday and runs until Sunday.
It is an international multi-sport event organized every two years for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation.
On Friday, Taiwanese Yang Kun-pi (楊昆弼) won a gold medal in the men’s trap event.
Liu Wan-yu took gold in the women’s trap.
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