Taiwanese speedskaters yesterday won three medals in the Asian Games finals Hangzhou, China.
In the women’s final, Li Meng-chu (李孟竹), 27, crossed the finish line first in 1 minute, 38.518 seconds, followed closely by compatriot Liu Yi-hsuan (劉懿萱) in a time of 1:38.712, earning them gold and silver respectively.
South Korea’s Lee Ye-rim finished third in 1:38.75.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Li said that the gold medal was her gift to her family, who had traveled to Hangzhou to root for her.
It was her second gold medal at the Asian Games. She won a gold in 2018 in the women’s 20km road race in Jakarta.
Li and 28-year-old Liu are to compete in the women’s speedskating 3,000m relay race today.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee
In the men’s final, South Koreans Choi Kwang-ho and Jeong Cheol-won placed first and second in 1:29.497 and 1:29.499 respectively.
Taiwan’s Chao Tsu-cheng (趙祖政), 28, finished third in 1:29.527, bagging the bronze medal.
However, Chao’s teammate Huang Yu-in (黃玉霖) was disqualified during the final after a collision with other athletes.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee
As of yesterday, Taiwanese skaters have won five medals at the Asian Games: two golds, two silvers and one bronze.
Taiwan’s men’s 3x3 basketball team also won a gold medal after beating Qatar 18-16 in the final.
In the men’s doubles table tennis, Taiwanese paddlers Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵) and Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) won bronze.
In the match to decide who would place third, Chuang, 42, and Lin, 22, took 64 minutes to beat South Korea’s Jang Wookin and Lim Jonghoon 8-11, 12-14, 11-9, 7-11, 10-12.
However, the pair still collected Taiwan’s first Asian Games medal in table tennis since 2006, when Chuang paired with Chiang Peng-lung (蔣澎龍) to finish third in Doha.
This year marked the seventh time Chuang has played in the Games.
Golfer Hung Chien-yao (洪健堯) also bagged a bronze in the men’s individual competition after making five birdies and two bogeys in the last round to finish the four-round event with a 24-under-par 288.
In boxing, Kan Chia-wei (甘家葳) and Lai Chu-en (賴主恩) got through to the men’s 71kg and 63.5kg semi-finals respectively.
By making it to the women’s 57kg semi-final Lin Yu-ting (林郁婷) has qualified to compete in next year’s Olympic Games.
They are all guaranteed a bronze even if they lose.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan
Japan has deployed long-range missiles in a southwestern region near China, the Japanese defense minister said yesterday, at a time when ties with Beijing are at their lowest in recent years. The missiles were installed in Kumamoto in the southern region of Kyushu, as Japan is attempting to shore up its military capacity as China steps up naval activity in the East China Sea. “Standoff defense capabilities enable us to counter the threat of enemy forces attempting to invade our country ... while ensuring the safety of our personnel,” Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi said. “This is an extremely important initiative for
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today accepted an invitation from Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to lead a delegation to China next month, saying she hopes to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations and bring stability to the Taiwan Strait. “I am grateful and happy to accept this invitation,” Cheng said in a statement from the KMT chairperson’s office. Cheng said she hopes both sides can work together to promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations, enhance exchange and cooperation, bring stability to the Taiwan Strait and improve people’s livelihoods. At today's news conference, Cheng said any efforts to
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and