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DEAFLYMPICS TAIPEI 2009: Taiwanese bowlers strike gold

Taiwan’s An Ching-long makes a jump in the Deaflympics decathlon at the Taipei Municipal Stadium yesterday. An came first in the discipline after jumping 6.65m. PHOTO: CNA

The Taiwan bowling team had good reason to hold their heads high after bagging three gold medals and two silver yesterday.

Taiwan have already snatched 26 medals and are in third place on the medals table.

The women’s trio — Chang Yao-chien, Wang Yu-chin and Lin Hsiang-tzu — ranked first with 1,645 points in the first three games played on Thursday and their No. 1 status remained unshaken yesterday with a stunning final total of 3,267 points.

Chang, 34, who also won gold in the women’s singles, is the only Taiwanese athlete so far to snatch the gold three times at these Games. During the trio match, she wowed the spectators and even her Canadian opponents gave her the thumbs up when she threw six strikes in a row during Game 5.

The other female trio — Chen Wen-ni, Huang Ya-ting and Hseuh Hsiu-chen — came in second with 3,182 points. Chen alone scored 1,185 points, making her the highest scorer in the category, with Chang second with 1,115 points.

The women, except for Huang who played in the masters, showed off their prowess again by taking the women’s team gold with 5,212 points. Second placed Russia were left behind with only 4,919 points.

The men’s trio — Chiu Ching-ling, Hsieh Sheng-fu and Weng Chung-ming — just missed out on the gold, but still managed a silver with 3,483 points, a mere two points behind the champions from South Korea.

The trio, along with Chiu Ching-ling and Kung Shih-chun, capped the night in a grand finish by grabbing Taiwan’s eighth gold in men’s masters with a stellar tally of 5,751 points, followed by South Korea’s 5,594 points.

CPBL Yesterday’s results • Sinon Bulls 14, Brother Elephants 6 • Uni-President Lions 3, La New Bears 1 Today’s games • Sinon Bulls v Brother Elephants (Tianmu, 5pm) • Uni-President Lions v La New Bears (Chengching Lake, 5pm)

It was also good news at the shooting range, where Liao Juei-yao took home a bronze in the men’s 25m rapid fire pistol. Liao and his teammate Kao Ya-ru, the silver medalist in women’s 25m air pistol, were not even on the shortlist of medal hopefulls prior to the Games.

The men’s volleyball team placed ninth by default after Fiji forfeited because the team had too many injured players.

Taiwan’s table tennis mixed doubles team was completely wiped out after losing all of their games. Even the team’s star player, Wen Chih-hsun, could not save him and his partner Chen Li-chien, after they lost 4-0 to South Korea’s Lee Kyung-hoon and Mo Yun-sol.

Yang Jung-chung and Chang Yi-chun had a slight window of opportunity when they beat Russia’s Asilbek Suynaliev and Elena Shagieva 4-1 in the morning game, but their chance went in the second game, a 4-1 loss to China’s Yang Yang and Lin Huan.

In badminton mixed doubles, Lin Chien-chen and Chen Mei-ling lost to China’s Zha Zhengchun and Wang Meng, while Wang Hui-sheng and Chen Hui lost to Russia’s Valery Antonov and Yana Gerasimova.

Wu Ming-liang and Chuang Yan-yi won their game by default when the Indonesian team failed to show up without giving a reason.

Taiwan’s tennis queen and medal hopeful Ho Chiu-mei’s dream of a gold medal in the singles was shattered when she was defeated by Italy’s 14-time gold medalist Barbara Oddone in 3-6, 1-6.

The 47-year-old Ho had a hard time hiding her disappointment, but lauded the Italian’s fast serves.

Ho plays Japan’s Yachiyo Abe tomorrow for the bronze.
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