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.
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s drone exports surged past US$100 million in the first quarter, exceeding last year’s full-year total, with the Czech Republic emerging as the largest buyer, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Exports of complete drones reached US$115.85 million in the period, about 1.2 times the total recorded for all of last year, the ministry said in a report. Exports to the Czech Republic accounted for about US$100 million, far outpacing other markets. Poland, last year’s top destination, recorded about US$11.75 million in the first quarter. Taiwan’s drone exports have expanded rapidly in the past few years, with last year’s total
RSS