A minor case of heat stroke yesterday did not deter Chan Jung-jan (詹詠然) as she and her sister Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) won a much-anticipated gold medal in women’s doubles, beating Thai opponents Varatchaya and Varunya Wongteanchai in two straight sets.
The Chan sisters took the first set 6-1 in less than one hour, breaking their opponents’ serves in the fourth and sixth games.
However, Chan Jung-jan called for medical treatment during the break between the first and second sets, and medical staff sought to reduce her body temperature.
Photo: CNA
Despite an apparent decline in strength, Chan Jung-jan and her sister worked together to break the Thai sisters’ serves in the second game of the second set.
Though both kept their serves after the second game, the Wongteanchais’ relentless attack and defense paid off when they broke the Chans’ serve in the eighth game and kept their own serve at the ninth game, to take a 5-4 lead.
However, the Taiwanese pair proved unstoppable as they kept their own serve at the 10th game and broke their opponents’ serve in the 11th, giving them a 6-5 lead.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Chan Jung-jan’s powerful return at the net took the lead to 7-5 and won the Chans the gold.
Chang Kai-chen’s (張凱貞) hope of defending her Universiade singles gold medal title had been thwarted in the morning when she lost to Varatchaya Wongteanchai in straight sets in the semi-final.
She lost the first set 2-6 following a series of unforced errors and two broken serves. Though she broke Wongteanchai’s serve twice in the second set and forced a tie break, Chang appeared to run out of steam to finish 6-7 (3-7).
Photo: CNA
She said afterward that strained abdominal muscles and the diarrhea she has been suffering over the past few days had affected her performance.
However, Taiwan will still be represented in the women’s singles tennis final, as Lee Ya-hsuan (李亞軒) beat Thai Patcharin Cheapchandej 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to secure a spot. Lee is scheduled to face Varatchaya Wongteanchai in the women’s singles finals today.
As there is no bronze medalist match in the women’s singles, Chang and Patcharin are both going home with bronze medals.
Photo: CNA
Meanwhile, Jason Jung (莊吉生) moved one step closer to his goal of clinching a gold in his first Universiade game after defeating Portugal’s Nuno Borges in the men’s tennis singles semi-final in two straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
He will face South Korean Hong Seongchan in the final.
Chan Jung-jan was scheduled to join Hsieh Cheng-peng (謝政鵬) in competing in the mixed doubles semi-final match, but was forced to retire due to physical reasons.
In badminton, world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) defeated Belgian Lianne Tan 2-1 to advance to the semi-finals in the women’s singles.
Taiwanese Chiang Mei-hui (江美惠) also secured a semi-final spot after crushing her South Korean opponent in two straight games, 21-13, 21-6.
Wang Tzu-wei (王子維), the only Taiwanese left in the men’s singles, beat French Lucas Florent Claerbout in three games, 21-12, 19-21, 21-12.
Wang Chi-ling (王齊麟) and Lee Chia-hsin (李佳馨) and Lee Yang (李洋) and Hsu Ya-ching (許雅晴) were the remaining pairs who fought their way into the semi-finals for the mixed doubles.
The pairs of Lee Yang and Lee Jhe-huei (李哲輝) and Hsu Ya-ching and Wu Ti-jung (吳玓蓉) advanced to the semi-finals for men’s and women’s doubles respectively.
In table tennis, world No. 8 Cheng I-ching (鄭怡靜) beat Romanian Irina Ciobanu in the women’s singles quarter-final match in four games to advance.
Chen Chien-an (陳建安) is also headed to the semi-final after defeating South Korean Lin Jong-hoon 4-3.
As of press time last night, Chen Chien-an and Chiang Hung-chieh (江宏傑), Lee Chia-sheng (李佳陞) and Liao Cheng-tin (廖振珽) had yet to finish their respective semi-final matches.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese wushu athlete Chen Yu-wei (陳宥崴) won a silver medal in the men’s taolu.
China’s Kong Fanhui (孔繁輝) won the gold with a score of 19.33 and Malaysia’s Loh Choon How the bronze.
Taiwan’s Chen Yi-ying (陳宜盈) won silver in women’s taolu.
Taiwan’s rhythmic gymnastics team finished their group competition with a silver medal.
Additional reporting by CNA
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS