Taiwanese athletes raced their way to four gold medals and two silvers yesterday, wining the women’s cycling road race and dominating the inline skating events at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China.
Hsiao Mei-yu (蕭美玉) was victorious in the women’s road cycling race, becoming the first Taiwanese rider to claim a road cycling medal in the history of the Asian Games.
She managed to out sprint Indonesia’s Santia Tri Kusuma and China’s Zhao Na (趙娜), who was disappointed to come home third after a grueling 100km ride.
Photo: AFP
“I’m too excited to say anything. I didn’t expect to win a medal, I thought I’d just be in the top 10,” said Hsiao, who was in tears as she stood on the podium to receive her gold medal.
However, it was Hsiao’s second medal of the Games. She won Taiwan’s first medal at the competition on Nov. 13 by taking bronze in the women’s 500m time trial.
Hsiao finished yesterday’s five laps in two hours, 47 minutes, 46.12 seconds, with Kusuma finishing 0.4 seconds behind and Zhao 0.51 seconds back.
Hong Kong’s Diao Xiaojuan (刁小娟) dislocated her shoulder in one of two spectacular pile-ups and was unable to finish the race, while Japan’s defending champion and pre-race favorite Mayuko Hagiwara came a disappointing 14th.
Zhao, silver medalist four years ago in Doha, stood glumly on the winners’ podium after her bronze.
Taiwanese inline skaters won two gold and two silver medals in the men’s roller sports 300m time trial and 500m sprint races.
Sung Ching-yang (宋青陽) won gold in a time of 24.777 seconds and teammate Lo Wei-lin (駱威霖) took silver with a time of 25:026 seconds in the 300m time trial. The two beat two South Korean competitors for the top spots.
The duo then went on to finish 1-2 in the 500m sprint to cap a terrific afternoon.
Taiwan’s Huang Yu-ting (黃郁婷) also took the gold in the women’s roller sports 500m spint race.
Hsiao’s win increased Taiwan’s gold medal haul in Guangzhou to 10, surpassing the number won at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha, Qatar and equaling the total won at the 2002 Asiad in Busan, South Korea.
UPDATED (3:40pm): A suspected gas explosion at a shopping mall in Taichung this morning has killed four people and injured 20 others, as emergency responders continue to investigate. The explosion occurred on the 12th floor of the Shin Kong Mitsukoshi in Situn District (西屯) at 11:33am. One person was declared dead at the scene, while three people were declared deceased later after receiving emergency treatment. Another 20 people sustained major or minor injuries. The Taichung Fire Bureau said it received a report of the explosion at 11:33am and sent rescuers to respond. The cause of the explosion is still under investigation, it said. The National Fire
ACCOUNTABILITY: The incident, which occured at a Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Department Store in Taichung, was allegedly caused by a gas explosion on the 12th floor Shin Kong Group (新光集團) president Richard Wu (吳昕陽) yesterday said the company would take responsibility for an apparent gas explosion that resulted in four deaths and 26 injuries at Shin Kong Mitsukoshi Zhonggang Store in Taichung yesterday. The Taichung Fire Bureau at 11:33am yesterday received a report saying that people were injured after an explosion at the department store on Section 3 of Taiwan Boulevard in Taichung’s Situn District (西屯). It sent 56 ambulances and 136 paramedics to the site, with the people injured sent to Cheng Ching Hospital’s Chung Kang Branch, Wuri Lin Shin Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital or Chung
‘TAIWAN-FRIENDLY’: The last time the Web site fact sheet removed the lines on the US not supporting Taiwanese independence was during the Biden administration in 2022 The US Department of State has removed a statement on its Web site that it does not support Taiwanese independence, among changes that the Taiwanese government praised yesterday as supporting Taiwan. The Taiwan-US relations fact sheet, produced by the department’s Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, previously stated that the US opposes “any unilateral changes to the status quo from either side; we do not support Taiwan independence; and we expect cross-strait differences to be resolved by peaceful means.” In the updated version published on Thursday, the line stating that the US does not support Taiwanese independence had been removed. The updated
‘LAWFUL USE’: The last time a US warship transited the Taiwan Strait was on Oct. 20 last year, and this week’s transit is the first of US President Donald Trump’s second term Two US military vessels transited the Taiwan Strait from Sunday through early yesterday, the Ministry of National Defense said in a statement, the first such mission since US President Donald Trump took office last month. The two vessels sailed south through the Strait, the ministry said, adding that it closely monitored nearby airspace and waters at the time and observed nothing unusual. The ministry did not name the two vessels, but the US Navy identified them as the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson and the Pathfinder-class survey ship USNS Bowditch. The ships carried out a north-to-south transit from