Huang Yu-ting was the nation’s golden girl last night at the Yangming Skating Rink as she won Taiwan’s first gold of the World Games in the women’s 300m speed rollerskating final.
Huang crossed the line in a time of 27.67 seconds, beating her compatriot Hsu Chiao-jen into second place and a silver medal by just .006 seconds.
Taiwan’s second gold medal followed just 30 minutes later in the men’s final, with Lo Wei-lin finishing ahead of the field in 25.55 seconds.
PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s quest for a korfball medal got off to a good start at Kaohsiung Normal University Gymnasium with a hard-fought 26-19 victory over Portugal.
The first half was a fast-paced affair with Taiwan’s better distance shooting paying off, helping them to a 10-8 lead at the break.
After the interval, Taiwan pulled away led by six goals from Chiu Chih-yi and five from Lin Hsiu-yun to secure the win.
Earlier in the day at the Lide Baseball Stadium, Taiwan’s softball team had an easy opener in the preliminary round, racing to an 11-0 lead in the first three innings against Canada.
The game was called off with the score unchanged after five innings because of the mercy rule.
Taiwan won the second game against Japan 2-0, although the result had not been declared official at press time last night.
In the fistball over at Chung Cheng Stadium, Taiwan struggled in the hot, humid conditions against superior opposition.
Taiwan’s team was formed within the last four years and the inexperience of the players showed against their more accomplished opponents, although they couldn’t be faulted for their effort.
In their first game against a strong Brazil line-up, they went down in three sets 11-4,11-5,11-4.
Later, against Germany, Taiwan dropped the first set 11-3, before improving in the second, but too many basic errors and a vulnerability to the drop shot cost them dearly, as they went down 11-5.
The third set started brightly with Taiwan actually leading 3-2 at one point before Germany’s strength began to tell. The Europeans eventually wrapped up the match by taking the third set 11-5.
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