Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team on Sunday defeated China 3-2 in the final at this year’s Summer World University Games in Germany, securing Taiwan’s first-ever gold medal in the event.
The competition followed a best-of-five singles format. Taiwan’s team was composed of Feng Yi-hsin (馮翊新), Kao Cheng-jui (高承睿) and Huang Yan-cheng (黃彥誠).
Feng opened the match with a 3-1 victory over Chen Junsong (陳俊菘) (11-7, 11-3, 7-11, 11-7), giving Taiwan a 1-0 lead. However, world No. 25 Kao fell to Sun Zheng (孫政) 1-3 (8-11, 11-8, 5-11, 5-11), leveling the score at 1-1.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation via CNA
Huang, playing the third match, put Taiwan back into a 2-1 lead by defeating Zeng Beixun (曾蓓勳) 3-1 (11-4, 8-11, 12-10, 11-6).
Kao returned for the fourth match, but lost to Chen, tying the score at 2-2.
Feng then clinched the victory for Taiwan with a 3-2 win over Sun in the final match.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation
The victory was Taiwan’s first-ever gold in the men’s team table tennis event at the University Games, surpassing their previous best of silver.
Feng said the win felt surreal.
“I was nervous in the final match, but my teammates’ cheers gave me confidence,” he said. “Our tactics worked so well, I could hardly believe it.”
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation
Huang said that their ultimate goal was to win gold, while Kao, who struggled in his matches, thanked his teammates for securing the victory.
“My performance was not even worthy of a bronze,” he said. “I am grateful to my teammates for helping me fulfill this dream.”
Coach Chu Yen-hui (朱硯匯) praised the team’s balanced lineup and trust in one another.
“With Feng stepping up at crucial moments, that is what made this gold medal possible,” he said.
Elsewhere at the Games, Taiwan won three silver medals in the badminton mixed team event, taekwondo and swimming.
In the best-of-five badminton final against China, Taiwanese shuttlers Chen Zhi-ray (陳子睿) and Lin Yu-chieh (林煜傑) fell 13-15, 10-15 to Cui Hechen (崔赫宸) and Peng Jianqin (彭建欽), giving China a 1-0 lead.
Wang Pei-yu (王珮妤) then lost 12-15, 15-12, 7-15 to Yuan Anqi (袁安琪) in the singles match, leaving Taiwan trailing 0-2.
Su Li-yang (蘇力揚) closed the gap to 1-2 by winning the third match, but China sealed the victory with a 3-1 result.
Coach Feng Sheng-chieh (馮勝杰) said that the opening match was pivotal and expressed regret that the team could not secure gold.
Taiwan had won gold in the badminton mixed team event at the 2017 Taipei Universiade, successfully defending their title in 2019 in Naples, Italy, and again clinching gold at the 2021 Chengdu Universiade in China.
Hung Jiun-yi (洪俊義), a first-time World University Games participant from National Changhua University of Education, earned silver after a 1-2 defeat to South Korea’s Seo Geon-woo in the men’s 80kg taekwondo final.
In swimming, Wang Kuan-hung (王冠閎) took silver in the men’s 200m butterfly with a time of 1 minute, 55.85 seconds, just 0.26 seconds behind gold medalist Jack Andrew Dahlgren of the US.
Reflecting on his performance, Wang said that his strong desire to win Taiwan’s first-ever swimming gold at the Games left him feeling dissatisfied, but he was still pleased with his podium finish.
“My goal was gold, but I am still happy to earn a spot on the podium,” he said.
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