Taiwan is to secure at least one medal at the Paris Olympics following boxer Wu Shih-yi’s (吳詩儀) quarter-final victory in the women’s 60kg (lightweight) division, while the nation’s male badminton players topped their groups.
Wu defeated Maria Jose Palacios of Ecuador, a Pan American Games bronze medalist last year, by majority decision, with four out of five judges scoring in her favor.
The 26-year-old pugilist is guaranteed to win at least a bronze medal, as there is no bronze-medal match in boxing.
Photo: CNA
The victory was significant for Taiwan.
Wu’s success came after the elimination of three Taiwanese boxers, including Kan Chia-wei (甘佳葳) in the men’s 71kg (welterweight) category on the same day, as well as the exit of top medal hope judoka Yang Yung-wei (楊勇緯) in the men’s 60kg event on Saturday.
Wu made her Olympic debut in Tokyo three years ago, where she struggled with injuries and was eliminated in the round-of-16.
Photo: AFP
This time, after her unanimous victory in the round-of-32 over South Korea’s Oh Yeon-ji, who won a bronze medal at last year’s World Championship, Wu advanced to the quarter-finals after fourth seed Cynthia Ogunsemilore of Nigeria failed a drug test.
Wu today in the semi-finals faces China’s Yang Wenlu (楊文璐), who previously defeated Wu by a unanimous decision en route to gold at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, last year.
“This is not the end, but another beginning,” Wu said.
Photo: AFP
Taiwan’s badminton players had good news in the men’s singles and the men’s doubles, with veteran Chou Tien-chen (周天成) and Tokyo Olympic gold medalists Lee Yang (李洋) and Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) finishing first in their groups, advancing to the round-of-16 and quarter-finals respectively.
Chou, 34, won 21-18, 21-13 against Hong Kong’s Lee Cheuk-yiu (李卓耀) in 44 minutes.
After securing the match point with a smash, Chou pumped his right fist and shouted in celebration.
“I just wanted to boost [Team Taiwan’s] morale,” he said.
Wang shared a similar sentiment after the Taiwanese duo outlasted China’s Liu Yuchen (劉雨辰) and Ou Xuanyi (歐烜屹) in 66 minutes.
Wang lay on the ground and yelled with clenched fists after seeing the shuttlecock land outside of the line to score their final point, coming back from a game down to win 17-21, 21-17, 24-22.
Although Wang had a dip in form over the past two matches, Lee Yang’s clutch performance on Wednesday helped elevate his partner’s game, ELTA TV anchor Lee Yu-ting (李祐廷) said.
Lee Yang and Wang had already secured a quarter-final berth going into the match and they relaxed early in Wednesday’s game.
“I kept telling Chi-lin that as we enter the quarter-finals, we can’t relax too much, we should keep it going,” Lee Yang said after surviving the so-called “group of death.”
Only the top two duos in each group advanced to the quarter-finals, but due to an error by the Badminton World Federation, the international governing body, Group D contained five pairings, one more than the other groups.
In addition to the Chinese world No. 9s, the group included the world No. 2 pairing from Denmark, No. 8 from Japan and No. 45 from the US.
Chou yesterday defeated Japan’s Kodai Naraoka 21-12, 21-16 in 55 minutes in the round-of-16 to advance to the quarter-finals.
The win marked the third time Taiwan’s star shuttler has made it to the quarter-finals at the Olympics. He is scheduled to play in the semi-finals today.
Lee Yang and Wang also advanced to the semis, beating Thailand’s Supak Jomkoh and Kittinupong Kedren 21-14, 21-17.
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