Taiwan’s women’s table tennis team won its first match in the team competition at the 2009 East Asian Games in Hong Kong yesterday, after earlier defeats for the men’s table tennis team and the women’s basketball team.
The Taiwanese women beat South Korea 3-2 thanks to a straight sets win by Cheng I-ching over Lee Eun-hee in the final rubber.
Hsu Jung-chan, the team’s head coach, had sounded a cautious note before the match, saying that South Korea had a strong team and three of the Taiwanese squad had begun to suffer cold symptoms.
PHOTO: WANG YI-SUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Earlier in the day, the South Korean men’s team beat their Taiwanese counterparts 3-1.
In women’s basketball, Taiwan lost 61-69 to China in their preliminary-round clash, a defeat attributed in part to the Taiwanese players’ lack of height — on average they were 10cm shorter than the Chinese.
The Fifth East Asian Games, which began yesterday, will run through Dec. 13. The official opening ceremony will be held on Saturday.
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