Taiwanese track and field athletes bagged another silver medal and five more bronze medals at the East Asian Games in Hong Kong yesterday, staying in fifth place on the medals table a day before the Games end.
In the men’s discus event, Taiwan’s Wang Yao-hui finished in second place with a throw of 55.18m with his last effort, while Chang Ming-huang won a bronze medal with a throw of 54.92m, his second attempt.
The gold medal went to Japan’s Shiro Kobayashi, who threw 55.98m.
Wang expressed disappointment over the result, saying it could have been very different had he not been faulted by a judge on his second throw, which he said would have been easily over 57m.
“I didn’t grab the chance to win the gold medal when I could. I need to adjust my technique because when I throw, the angle of elevation tends to be too big,” he said.
In the final of the men’s 100m, Taiwan’s Yi Wei-chen finished third in a time of 10.49 seconds. China’s Su Bingtian won the race in 10.33 seconds, while Japan’s Shintaro Kimura clocked 10.39 seconds to take silver.
PHOTO: REUTERS
In the women’s 400m hurdles, Taiwan’s Chang Ai-hua took a bronze medal, finishing in 1 minute, 3.57 seconds, while Japan’s Miyabi Tago and Kana Tsuru took gold and silver respectively.
In the men’s pole vault there was a bronze medal for Hsieh Chia-han, while Taiwan’s Ho Chin-ping also grabbed a bronze in the men’s 10,000m.
China is leading the medals table, followed by Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, unfancied Hong Kong shocked a young Japan side in the final of the soccer, winning 4-2 on penalties in front of a fanatical sell-out 40,000 crowd.
Defender Wong Chin Hung was the hero for Hong Kong, scoring the decisive penalty to send the home fans delirious after the game ended 1-1 after 120 minutes.
The Japanese, represented by their under-20 team, took the lead as early as the 22nd minute at a vociferous and partisan Hong Kong Stadium, defender Taisuke Muramatsu scoring unchallenged from close range.
Japan had the quality, but Hong Kong the spirit and the home support, and two minutes after halftime the East Asian Games hosts and surprise finalists were level, substitute striker Chan Siu Ki heading home from close range.
Chan, Hong Kong’s star player, was reportedly rushed back from training with English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur especially for the match, which neither team really deserved to win in normal time or the 30 minutes of extra-time.
Unheralded Hong Kong had disposed of North and South Korea on the way to their unexpected appearance in the final.
Earlier, in a game played in a strong spirit of camaraderie, South Korea beat neighbors North Korea 4-2 on penalties to take the bronze medal after the match had finished 1-1.
Keeper Kim Min-kyu was the hero for the South, saving two penalties, including the North’s fourth kick, which the referee ordered to be taken three times because Kim had come too far off his line.
South Korean striker Go Min-gi, who scored the opener against the run of play in the 24th minute, said playing the North had special meaning.
“You saw when the players were injured they were helping each other a lot,” Go said.
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