Taiwan shines in Thailand
Taiwan put itself in position for a strong finish in badminton at the World University Games in Thailand yesterday, as it will have representatives in almost all categories of the gold medal matches today.
Cheng Shao-chieh will play for the women's singles gold, Chien Yu-chin and Cheng Wen-hsi will play in the women's doubles, Tsai Chia-hsin and Hsieh Yu-hsing will play in the men's doubles and Fang Chieh-min and Cheng Wen-hsi will play for the mixed doubles gold.
PHOTO: AP
Meanwhile Liao Sheng-hsun earned an automatic bronze medal when he lost his semi-final match in the men's singles.
Judo
In judo, Wang Chin-fang advanced to the finals in the women's 63kg division.
Wang defeated competitors from North Korea, Canada and Belarus to qualify for the gold medal medal match.
Coach Luo You-wei said that Wang had more experience and better skills than her French opponent today and should win handily if everything went as expected.
TENNIS
Vaunted women's tennis duo Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung also had little trouble with their South Korean opponents yesterday, easily winning 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the gold medal match today.
BASKETBALL
Taiwan's women's basketball team barely missed a chance to advance to the semi-finals after it was beaten by the US 65-66.
The game was a back-and-forth affair from the outset, as Taiwan came out of the gates strong, led by six points by Lin Chi-wen, to take a 15-6 lead over the US.
But the US came back and held a one-point lead by the end of the first quarter. Taiwan retaliated in the second quarter with more strong play from Lin and Chen Yu-chun to give Taiwan an 11-point lead at halftime.
Taiwan broke down in the second half, at one point going six minutes without scoring a point in the fourth quarter. Taiwan pulled the score even with 1:43 to go with a three-pointer from Wu Min-fang.
The score remained tied until the US went to the foul line with 4.7 seconds to go and scored the one point that would seal its victory.
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