Li Ching-yi was the only medalist for Team Taiwan yesterday after winning the nation’s second silver medal in two days in the World Games jujitsu competition.
Up against the experienced Annabelle Reydy of France in the 55kg fighting final, Li started slowly and was 5-0 down within a few seconds as Reyde connected with a series of attacking punches.
Li never recovered and — despite encouragement from the sizable crowd — was overwhelmed as Reydy had her pinned down twice for ippons, finishing the three-minute bout with a disappointing 16-3 defeat.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-I, TAIPEI TIMES
Aizhan Kukuzova of Kazakhstan, who Li had beaten in the semi-final, claimed bronze after Poland’s Martyna Bieronska was disqualified for persistently backing off, despite leading 20-11 at the time.
Earlier in the day, Taiwan’s Wu Chia-luan missed out on a bronze medal chance after losing in the men’s 77kg repechage semi-final to Percy Kunsa of France. Kunsa later went on to take the bronze.
The silver took Taiwan’s overall medal count to five gold, six silver and three bronze.
The concluding day of the artistic roller sports competition at the I-Shou University Gymnasium saw Taiwan miss out on numerous medal opportunities, with Wang Hsiao-chu finishing just out of the medals in the women’s freeskating long program. Wang was fourth, with Italy’s Tanja Romano taking gold. Yeh Chia-chen also failed in his medal quest, coming seventh out of eight in the men’s event.
Team dance freedance couple Lu Yi-an and Yang Jia-shiang, meanwhile, also missed out on a medal after finishing sixth out of six.
Pairs long program duo Chien Chia-sheng and Wang Szu-yu also took the wooden spoon in their final, scoring just 284.3 compared with the gold medal score of 390.1 by Italy’s Matteo Guarise and Sara Venerucci.
On the first day of billiards at the Martial Arts Stadium, Taiwan’s Lin Shu-hung advanced to the last eight of men’s snooker after beating South Africa’s Francois Ellis 3-0, while in carom, Yuan Yung-kuo triumphed in his round of 16 match against Egypt’s Sameh Sidom.
The final action of the night saw local favorite Chang Shu-han also go through to the round of eight after beating Japan’s Oi Yukiko nine games to five in the women’s nine-ball pool.
Also yesterday, the final day of boules sports saw Tsao Chia-hui finish in fourth place in the final of the Lyonnaise precision throw, while in the Petanque, Chen Hung-wen and Sun Chaia-yi lost 13-2 to the Thai pairing, missing out on a bronze.
In the Lyonnaise shuttle throw, Taiwan’s Huang Yu-ju also missed out on a bronze after losing to Italy’s Chiara Soligon.
Meanwhile, in the ten pin bowling women’s singles, local hope Wang Yu-ling was knocked out in the final qualifying stage after finishing in seventh position, scoring 2,042, some 87 points short of a semi-final spot.
At Lotus Pond on the first day of waterskiing at Lotus Pond, Taiwan’s Liao Chun-yi finished last in the women’s barefoot slalom preliminary. Also last were Lin Hao-ting and Kan Chun-yu, who failed to make the grade in their respective wakeboard qualifiers.
In related news, the 2013 World Games will be held in Cali, Colombia, the head of the International World Games Association (IWGA) announced on Tuesday.
“The Executive Committee of the IWGA has decided to grant the hosting of the 9th World Games to Cali, a city with 2 million people in south Colombia,” IWGA president Ron Froehlich told a news conference in Kaohsiung.
Froehlich said they had picked Cali because the city has a lot of experience in organizing sports events and has the necessary infrastructure and sports venues.
Pascual Guerrero, a representative from the Colombian Olympic Committee, said it would be the first time the World Games will be held in South America.
“The 2013 World Games will run under the slogan ‘The World Games for a Clean Planet.’ We will pay special attention to environmental friendliness. We want ‘fair play’ to the environment,” he said at the news conference.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY DPA
Also See: Athletes not the only stars at World Games
ANFIELD BLUES: Kylian Mbappe arrived at Anfield on a run of 21 goals in 17 games, but he managed just three attempts in the match, none of them hitting the target Kylian Mbappe has been nearly unstoppable this season, but he hit a roadblock in their UEFA Champions League match at Anfield on Tuesday. For the second year running, the Real Madrid forward had a night to forget at Merseyside as Liverpool won 1-0. Mbappe looked a shadow of the player who has been tearing defenses apart all season. “We were lacking that threat in the final third,” said Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, without naming Mbappe individually. The FIFA World Cup winner for France rarely looked capable of finding a breakthrough against a Liverpool team who have been so defensively fragile for much of the
Jemimah Rodrigues on Thursday hit an unbeaten 127 as India pulled off a record chase of 339 against Australia to set up a Women’s World Cup final against South Africa. Rodrigues and skipper Harmanpreet Kaur, who hit 89, put on 167 runs for the third wicket as India won with nine balls and five wickets to spare at DY Patil Stadium, on the outskirts of Mumbai. The hosts finished on a total of 341-5 in reply to Australia’s impressive 338 and ensured there would be a new name on the 50-over trophy tomorrow. Amanjot Kaur hit the winning boundary to trigger wild celebrations
LOCAL SUCCESS: In the doubles, Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Italians Sara Errani and Jasmine Paolini in straight sets Elena Rybakina on Monday punched her ticket to the WTA Finals last four with an impressive 3-6, 6-1, 6-0 victory over second seed Iga Swiatek in round-robin play in Riyadh. After cruising past Amanda Anisimova in her opener on Saturday, Rybakina claimed her second win of the week to guarantee herself top spot in the Serena Williams Group. Anisimova on Monday rallied back from a set and a break down to triumph 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in her all-American battle with seventh seed Madison Keys, who has been eliminated from the competition. “Madi was playing so well, it was quite a battle out there,”
Jannik Sinner on Thursday eased past Francisco Cerundolo 7-5, 6-1 at the Paris Masters to set up a quarter-final clash with Ben Shelton, while reigning champion Alexander Zverev earned a straight-sets win over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the third round. A maiden crown in the French capital would return Sinner to No. 1 in the world rankings after current incumbent Carlos Alcaraz suffered a shock early exit at the hands of Britain’s Cameron Norrie. The Italian four-time Grand Slam champion is yet to drop a set in the tournament as he hones in on what would be a fifth title of the
RSS