Taiwan’s Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) yesterday failed in his bid to claim a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, as the 19-year-old rising star lost a nail-biting men’s singles bronze medal match 4-3 to Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov.
It was history repeating itself, after Ovtcharov once again denied Taiwan its first ever Olympic table tennis medal in men’s singles.
The teenage table tennis sensation had his chances in the best-of-seven bronze medal match, garnering four match points in a dramatic sixth game, but the Kiev-born German saved all of them and blunted another rally in the final game for a 13-11, 9-11, 6-11, 11-4, 4-11, 15-13, 11-7 triumph in 66 minutes.
Photo: AFP
Taiwan’s previous best finish in Olympic men’s singles had been nine years earlier in London, when Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵) lost a six-game heartbreaker in the bronze medal match to Ovtcharov, 14-12 in the final game.
Lin had a better chance to break the dry spell, but he lamented his inability to convert any of his four match points.
“I didn’t feel especially nervous, but I know I didn’t play some of those points right,” Lin said.
Photo: AFP
The “Silent Assassin,” as he is known because of his calm under pressure, struggled out of the gate in the final game, falling behind 9-3.
“By that point, the momentum had shifted to my opponent, and all I could do was try to catch up one point at a time,” he said.
He rallied for four straight points to pull within 9-7, but Ovtcharov closed out the match when Lin hit a backhand into the net.
“All I can do now is go home and figure out how to get better,” Lin said.
His coach Chiang Peng-lung (蔣澎龍) said that Lin was outstanding in his first Olympic appearance, in which the world No. 6 teenager nearly defeated world No. 1 Fan Zhendong (樊振東) of China in the semi-finals.
Chiang felt Lin did tighten up in the latter stages of yesterday’s match, because he wanted to win too much, but that would change with experience, he said.
“He has a big opportunity in the future, and will now look toward the 2024 Olympics in Paris,” Chiang said.
Ovtcharov praised Lin for pushing him to the brink. Asked about taking bronze from Taiwan for a second time in nine years, Ovtcharov said that Chuang is a good friend and Lin is a teammate of his at his European club, but in the end, the Olympics are a competition.
He had no doubt that Lin would break through.
“He will definitely win a medal one day,” the German said.
Additional reporting by AFP
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
‘MISGUIDED EDICT’: Two US representatives warned that Somalia’s passport move could result in severe retaliatory consequences and urged it to reverse its decision Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) has ordered that a special project be launched to counter China’s “legal warfare” distorting UN Resolution 2758, a foreign affairs official said yesterday. Somalia’s Civil Aviation Authority on Wednesday cited UN Resolution 2758 and Mogadishu’s compliance with the “one China” principle as it banned people from entering or transiting in the African nation using Taiwanese passports or other Taiwanese travel documents. The International Air Transport Association’s system shows that Taiwanese passport holders cannot enter Somalia or transit there. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) protested the move and warned Taiwanese against traveling to Somalia or Somaliland
RSS