Taiwan yesterday bagged three golds at the Chengdu World University Games in China, lifting the nation’s gold count to six.
Gymnast Lee Chih-kai (李智凱) took gold in the men’s pommel horse for the third time in a row, while compatriot Hsiao Yu-jan (蕭佑然) claimed bronze.
Lee, a 27-year-old Olympic medalist, scored 15.500 at the Dongan Lake Sports Park Multi-purpose Gymnasium, while Nariman Kurbanov (15.266) of Kazakhstan was second. Hsiao scored 14.933.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation
Lee on Friday dropped out of the men’s individual all-around event to preserve energy for the pommel horse and horizontal bar events yesterday. The horizontal bar final was ongoing at press time last night.
It was Lee’s third gold at this year’s event and Taiwan’s fourth in artistic gymnastics.
Lee’s coach Lin Yu-hsin (林育信) said that it “was definitely a world-class performance.”
Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation
He was initially given a score of 15.400, but the judges had failed to notice a difficult move he completed, so it was increased to 15.500 after Lin and Lee informed them.
Tennis players Liang En-shuo (梁恩碩) and Wu Fang-hsien (吳芳嫺) took gold in the women’s doubles, beating China’s Guo Hanyu (郭涵煜) and Jiang Xinyu (蔣欣玗) 7-5, 6-4.
The Taiwanese pair faced an uphill challenge in the first set after losing the first five games.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation
However, they turned the match around by winning the next seven.
Liang and Wu claimed Taiwan’s fifth gold of the Games and the second medal in tennis after 1 hour, 21 minutes on the court.
The Taiwanese pair guaranteed their place in the final by beating Kimberly Hance and Elise Wagel of the US 6-2, 6-2 in the semi-finals on Friday.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation
Earlier yesterday, 22-year-old Liang took on Guo in the women’s singles semi-finals, but lost 7-6 (7/5), 6-3 to claim bronze. In the second semi, Yang Ya-yi (楊亞依) beat France’s Alice Robbe 6-2, 6-3 to reach the final against Guo, which is to be played today.
Hsu Yu-hsiou (許育修) and Huang Tsung-hao (黃琮豪) won gold in the men’s doubles, defeating Jan Jermar and Victor Sklenka of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-3.
Taiwan were seventh on the medals table at press time, with six golds, 14 silvers and 15 bronzes.
There are 210 Taiwanese athletes competing in 16 sports at the 31st Summer University Games, which ends on Tuesday.
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