Taiwanese Dragon Boat teams picked up three silver medals on the final day of the East Asian Games in Tianjin, China, yesterday as Taiwan finished in fourth place on the overall medals table.
Taiwan’s squad of Sheng Ru-lin, Tsung Yuan Hsiao-chiang, Kuo Ming-chen, Yu Wei-chen, Yi Wen-pen, Yi En-tasi, Tai Yuan-chiu, Cheng Yen-chien, Hung Hui-shih, Cheng En-hsieh, Tzu Hsin-chen, Sheng Pin-wang, Shi Liang-wu, Yueh Hung Chen-chou, En Ping-chou, Ying Chieh-chuang, Wei Jie-you, Chen Po-wu, Yi Lung-hsieh, Chih Wei-chou, Hao Chun-yu, Tzu Hsien-chen, Chuan Hsien-lin, Shuiu Tien-huang, Yen Ting-chen and Chun Chieh-wu claimed the silver medal in the 22-man 200m race in 42.081 seconds.
In the 12-man 200m, Taiwan’s Tzu Hsien-chen, Shi Liang-wu, En Ping-chou, Cheng Yen-chien, Wei Jie-you, Yen Ting-chen, Tai Yuan-chiu, Kuo Ming-chen, Chih Wei-chou, Chen Po-wu, Tsung Yuan Hsiao-chiang, Sheng Ru-lin, Chun Chieh-wu and Chang En-hsieh won silver in 48.050 seconds, while the women’s squad of Chi Yun-chien, Wan Ting-yin, Wei Hung, Yu Xuan-jiang, Wen Shin-hsu, Nai Fen-chang, Pei Chieh-tsui, Ching Hui-lai, Ming Yu-huang, Ying Chen-chen, Hsin Hua-wu, Yu Yi-fu, Liang Yu-tsai and Yu Ting-lin timed 56.686 seconds to also grab silver in the 12-woman 200m.
Photo: EPA
The men’s 12-man team, mostly amateurs in their early 20s, crossed the finish line less than 2 seconds after a team of Chinese professionals.
“There is room for improvement, but their performance was quite satisfactory,” head coach Hou Hung-chang said. “Given the strong competition, a silver medal is tantamount to being No. 1.”
Hou said that in the men’s race, there was a false start by the Macau team which affected his team’s timing.
The winning Chinese team was made up of professional racers from Guangdong Province, who had already claimed 88 championships at various levels in their home country this year alone.
Hou said the women’s teams were also at a disadvantage because they were composed of young canoeists, including a 16-year-old high-school student, rather than professional dragon boat racers.
Meanwhile, in the judo Szu Chu-wang claimed a bronze medal in the women’s under-78kg category.
Hosts China finished on top of the medals table with 134 golds, followed by Japan with 47 and South Korea with 36. Taiwan finished in fourth place with 17 golds, 28 silvers and 46 bronze.
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