Lin goes from zero to golden hero

Former "bad boy" cyclist Lin Chih-hsun (林志勳) turned good yesterday in Busan, South Korea, winning a gold medal in the men's 1km time trial.

Taiwan's second gold medal of the Asian Games was a surprise for everyone, even the 21-year-old from Taichung, who beat the heavily fancied favorite Keiichi Omori of Japan.

His victory helped improve the nation's tally of medals to two golds, four silvers and eight bronzes after five days of competition -- seventh in the rankings of the 44 countries participating.

In action elsewhere, Taiwan picked up bronze medals in men's doubles bowling, women's doubles bowling and in the men's apparatus finals rings.

At the Giijang County Velodrome, Lin went second to last in the eight-man group final and completed the 1km course in an impressive one minute, 5:470.

It left two-time Asian championship winner Omori a challenging ride but one that he was expected to beat. He failed by 0.39 of a second, handing Lin first prize.

"I was really surprised," said Lin, who sports bleached golden hair and eyebrows and a tattoo of the devil prostrate on a cross on his arm.

"I expected him [Omori] to win and thought the best I could do was second or third. I have a strong heart and tried my best and it was enough."

In baseball, Taiwan easily overcame China 11-1 with a strong team performance topped off by some consistent pitching form Tsai Chung-nan (蔡仲南), who pitched six innings, facing 21 batters and giving up four hits.

Taiwan's performance did not go unnoticed by favorites South Korea, whose coach Kim In-sik said Taiwan was stronger than he anticipated from watching video clips of the team, particularly in the pitching department.

In softball, Taiwan's women needed an extra inning to beat South Korea in a tight game that was 1-1 after seven innings.

Taiwan's coach Ni Chao-liang (倪兆良) said he was pleased with the way his team had played in closing out South Korea but warned that the two Koreas had improved and Japan would also be difficult to beat.

Taiwan is guaranteed a medal of some sort and will play Japan in the semifinal today.

In tennis, there was disappointment as Taiwan crashed out of the women's and men's team event. Janet Lee (李慧芝) and Hsieh Su-weh (謝淑薇) lost their respective matches against Japan, and Jimmy Wang (王宇佐) and Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) fell against Indonesia.

In table tennis, Taiwan narrowly lost to South Korea, with top player Chuang Chih-yuan losing 3-1 to Ryu Seung-min.