Yang Ching-shun came back from a semi-final defeat to take the bronze medal in an 11-7 victory over South Korea's Jeoung Young-hwa in the consolation finals of men's nine-ball pool on Monday.
Yang had been hoping for his third consecutive gold at the Asian Games, but appeared not to be in top form from the beginning of this year's competition, barely squeaking by his opponent by two points in the preliminary round and just one point in the quarter-final.
In track and field, Chang Ming-huang set a personal best in men's shot put with a 19.45m throw to take the bronze. Competition was especially fierce, with Saudi Arabia's Sultan Abdulmajeed al-Hebshi also setting a personal best at 20.42m to take the gold and Qatar's Khaled Habash al-Suwaidi setting a season best with a 20.05m for the silver.
Those medals, combined with the golf medals earlier in the day, helped Taiwan maintain sixth place in the overall medal standings on Monday.
The women's basketball team won its semi-final match against Japan 70-59 on Monday to earn it a trip to the gold-medal final against China tomorrow. After falling behind 17-18 after the first quarter, the team recovered from its shaky start to take command of the next three and seal the win.
Tough defense proved the key to success, with Japan scoring 12 points in the second period and a scant 8 in the third.
Liu Chun-yi had a quiet night, scoring just 14 points, but Chiang Feng-chun stepped up in her place to lead the offense with 21 points while shooting 59 percent from the field. This will be Taiwan's first trip to the finals.
Taiwan made a strong start in the martial arts events with a slew of bronzes yesterday, but competitors had trouble getting over the hump in their semi-final matches.
Shen Chia-hao took home Taiwan's first karate medal yesterday with a bronze in men's individual kata.
Shen lost his semi-final match to Malaysia's Jin Keat Ku 3-2, but came back to defeat Pakistan's Ghulam Ali 4-1 in the bronze-medal match.
Taiwan's Huang Yu-chi won a bronze after losing her semi-final match 5-0 to Japan's Morooka Nao in women's kata.
Chen Yen-hui also couldn't quite make it through the semi-finals in women's kumite, falling to Malaysia's Vasantha Marial Anthony 7-4.
The trend was finally broken when Hsieh Cheng-kang beat Uzbekistan's Ihtiyor Sharapov 5-1 in the men's 55kg kumite semi-finals.
In wushu, Huang Hsiao-chien took third place in the women's nanquan competition.
Taiwan also won its first equestrian medal yesterday when Jasmine Chen took silver in the individual jump off on her horse Comodoro. Her twin sister, Joy Chen, also had a strong showing, finishing fourth among 24 competitors.
In archery, Kuo Cheng-wei defeated Indonesia's Rahmat Sulistyawan 109-100 to take the bronze medal in the men's division out of a field of 32 competitors.
He cruised through his first three matches before running into South Korea's Im Dong Hyun in the semi-finals and losing 100-106, his lowest score of the day.
The mixed tennis pair of Lu Yen-hsun and Hsieh Su-wei lost to Japan in the semi-finals yesterday in two sets, but that was good enough to earn them an automatic bronze.
The women's doubles team of Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung upset the second-seeded Chinese team of Li Ting and Sun Tiantian to advance to the gold medal match tomorrow. The two won with relative ease, defeating the Chinese in two sets 6-3, 6-2.
The women's softball team lost to China 5-2 yesterday to drop its record to 2-2 in the preliminary round robin.
Each team had nine hits, but Taiwan's bottom of the order couldn't get any timely hitting, stranding 10 runners to compound two errors in the field. Taiwanese starter Wu Chia-yen got roughed up for six hits and four runs, three of them earned, in 4.2 innings of work to take the loss.
US track and field athletes have about four dozen pieces to choose from when assembling their uniforms at the Olympics. The one grabbing the most attention is a high-cut leotard that barely covers the bikini line and has triggered debate between those who think it is sexist and others who say they do not need the Internet to make sure they have good uniforms. Among those critical or laughing at the uniforms included Paralympian Femita Ayanbeku, sprinter Britton Wilson and even athletes from other countries such as Britain’s Abigail Irozuru, who wrote on social media: “Was ANY female athlete consulted in
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
The sacred flame for the Paris Olympics was lit yesterday in Olympia, Greece, the birthplace of the ancient Games, in a ceremony inspired by antiquity and marked by messages of hope amid multiple global crises. “In ancient times, the Olympic Games brought together the Greek city states, even — and in particular — during times of war and conflict,” International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said. “Today, the Olympic Games are the only event that brings the entire world together in peaceful competition. Then as now, the Olympic athletes are sending this powerful message — yes, it is possible to compete fiercely