Taiwanese women continued their good showing at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro on Monday, with weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳) winning the nation’s third medal and three others reaching the quarter-finals at table tennis and tennis events.
Kuo won a bronze medal in the women’s 58kg division, but she said she was disappointed by her performance.
Having won the Asian Weightlifting Championships in late April by lifting a total of 238kg, Kuo was left in tears after lifting a total of 231kg in Rio de Janeiro, attributing her disappointing performance to nerves.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
“Nerves caused my body to be out of sync. It is all on me,” she said, adding that she had trouble with her technique rather than the weight itself. “In the past, the day before a competition, I needed to check my water intake, but this time I controlled everything very well.”
“Being in such good shape and then not having it show in the results” was hard to accept, she said.
“I did not do as well as I wanted,” she added. “I am very disappointed. I hope I can have a better result in the next Olympic Games. This medal does not meet my expectations, but I will keep doing my best and keep trying to attend competitions.”
Photo: CNA
She ranked eighth at the 2012 London Olympics.
Taiwan’s top female table tennis player, Cheng I-ching (鄭怡靜), won two matches on Monday, securing a spot in the women’s table tennis quarter-finals.
Cheng first faced 38-year-old Belarussian Viktoria Pavlovich, whose assortment of slices and effective defensive style initially confused the 24-year-old Taiwanese.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
However, Cheng found the patience to cope with Pavlovich’s approach, only to struggle late in the match before playing her best in the final game to ultimately win the match 7-11, 11-9, 11-7, 11-9, 8-11, 7-11, 11-2.
She then faced South Korean Suh Hyo-won, 29, for a spot in the final eight.
Cheng said Suh was an opponent who had given her trouble in the past, but sped to a 3-0 lead and was seemingly on her way to an easy victory when Suh changed strategies and went on the offensive. Cheng recovered after a timeout and defeated Suh 11-5, 11-9, 11-3, 4-11, 5-11, 9-11, 11-7.
She was scheduled to play Li Xiaoxia (李曉霞) of China in the quarter-finals yesterday.
Li won gold in the women’s singles at the 2012 London Olympics.
On the tennis court, the third-seeded sister pairing of Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and Chan Yung-jan (詹詠然) beat British pair Johanna Konta and Heather Watson 3-6, 6-0, 6-4 to advance to the women’s doubles quarter-finals.
They are to face Martina Hingis and Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland in the quarter-finals tomorrow.
After three full days of competitions in Rio de Janeiro, Taiwan was one of 20 nations to have won a gold medal and one of 13 nations to have won at least three medals.
Prior to Kuo’s bronze on Monday, Taiwanese athletes won a weightlifting gold medal in the women’s 53kg division and a bronze medal in the women’s team event in archery on Sunday.
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