Taiwanese athletes picked up another nine medals at the East Asian Games in Tianjin, China, yesterday to take their tally to 29.
Chia Hwi-peng picked up the silver medal in the women’s over-73kg taekwondo after losing the final to China’s Zheng Shuyin, while Huang Shih-feng threw 82.11m to claim the silver in the men’s javelin.
Chin Chang-chen also picked up a silver medal in the men’s under-52kg sanshou, although there were only two entries in the competition.
Photo: AFP
Wang Wen-tan, Chen Yu-te, Lo Yen-yao and Chen Chieh ran 3 minutes, 10.72 seconds to claim the bronze in the men’s 4x400m relay.
Staying on the track, Taiwan’s Syu Yong-jie, Huang Yu-ching, Ko Ching-ting and Shen Wan-zhen ran 45.61 seconds to claim bronze in the women’s 4x100m relay.
Li Shiau-ping and Chien Hsiu-lan picked up the bronze medal in women’s doubles bowling and there were three more bronze medals in taekwondo — Chia Yen-lin in the women’s under-53kg category, Chia Chia-chuang in the women’s under-67kg category and Tzu Te-chuang in the men’s under-68kg category.
Photo: AFP
Taiwan ‘s women’s soccer team fell to their second defeat of the Games when they were thrashed 7-0 by North Korea, following their opening 8-2 defeat to Japan.
By the end of yesterday, China had a total of 67 gold medals overall, ahead of South Korea on 17 and Japan on 13. Taiwan were fourth with five golds, eight silver and 16 bronze.
BASKETBALL
By Paul Huang
Contributing reporter
Behind Quincy Davis’ game-high 26 points and 13 rebounds, Taiwan defeated South Korea by a 79-76 margin in the opener of the men’s basketball competition at the East Asian Games in Tainjin yesterday afternoon to begin the competition with a surprise victory.
Heading into the contest as slight underdogs, Taiwan wanted to prove to the world that their victory over South Korea in July’s Jones Cup in Taipei was no fluke, even though they lost to the same team a month later in the bronze medal game of the Asian Championship in Manila.
That was exactly what they did as the win not only put Taiwan in the driver’s seat for a first-place finish in Group A to greatly enhance their chances of a top-three finish overall, but it also avenged the bitter loss to South Korea in August.
“Facing [South Korea] early is better than late because they are known to improve as the tournament goes on,” Taiwan coach Hsu Chin-che said prior to departing for Tianjin late last week, stressing the fact that his players were as prepared as they could be.
Taiwan opened the contest with a quick 6-2 advantage, but quickly fell behind by six after allowing South Korea to roll off a 10-0 run.
However, the Taiwanese regained their poise to keep it a three-point game by the end of the first quarter, before skidding ahead to grab a 37-35 lead at halftime.
The two teams fought hard in a physical second half that saw Taiwan hold on to the lead, despite a late rally by South Korea that brought them to within a point with 14 seconds remaining.
That was as close as they got, though, as Keh Chi-hao drained a pair of free throws in the closing seconds.
BASEBALL
By Paul Huang
Contributing reporter
Taiwan upped their record to a perfect 4-0 with a 30-0 trouncing of Mongolia in five innings to remain unbeaten in the preliminaries of the baseball at the East Asian Games at Tianjin Sports Center yesterday afternoon.
Powered by four homers, Taiwan teed off against Mongolia from the get-go with a three-run first inning and a nine-run second, highlighted by Lin Wang-wei’s inside-the-park home run to stake a commanding 12-0 lead.
Following a four-run third, the Taiwanese offense would erupt for another big inning, this time with an eight-run fourth, en route to a landslide victory.
Starring on the mound for Taiwan was starter Wang Tsung-hao, who retired all nine of the batters he faced over three perfect frames, before handing the game over to fellow reliever Luo Guo-hua in the fourth to combine for a perfect-game performance.
Already short of players with only 12 listed on their roster, Mongolia were forced to end the game before completing the fifth inning when their second pitcher was injured by a comebacker from a Taiwanese hitter, leaving no one to replace him.
The 30-0 score was pronounced by the game official as the final score due to Mongolia’s inability to replace their injured player.
“I hope we can continue our current success at the plate and finish off the tournament strong,” Taiwan manager Lu Ming-tsu said.
Taiwan take on the hosts today with the opening pitch scheduled for 9am. Kuo Jung-lin is expected to take the mound in a game that Taiwan are favorites to win.
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