Taiwanese athletes claimed three more bronze medals at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, yesterday to increase their total to seven.
In the men’s badminton semi-finals, Taiwan lost to hosts South Korea to finish with a bronze medal, the nation’s first ever medal in the category at the Games.
In the men’s singles matches, which make up one aspect of the team score, Chou Tien-chen lost to South Korea’s Son Wan-ho 12-21, 17-21, while Hsu Jen-hao lost 12-21, 18-21 to Lee Dong-keun.
Photo: Reuters
In the doubles, Taiwanese duo Lee Sheng-mu and Tsai Chia-hsin were defeated 10-21, 13-21 by Yoo Yeon-seong and Lee Yong-dae.
The other members of the bronze-medal winning team were Hsueh Hsuan-yi, Liao Min-chun, Chen Hung-ling, Tseng Min-hao, Liao Kuan-hao and Liang Jui-wei.
In track cycling, Taiwan’s women’s team pursuit squad of Hsiao Mei-yu, Huang Ting-ying, I Fang-ju and Tseng Hsiao-chia also picked up a bronze medal after defeating Japan to claim third place.
Photo: AFP
In wushu, Taiwan’s Hsu Kai-kuei completed yesterday’s medal haul by collecting bronze in the men’s nanquan and nangun all-round competition.
In the women’s tennis quarter-final, Taiwan defeated Thailand 2-1 to advance to the semis.
Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan opened with a 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) comeback victory over Tamarine Tanasugarn, before Hsieh Su-wei fell to a 2-6, 6-3, 1-6 defeat to Luksika Kumkhum in the second rubber.
Photo: AFP
Chan and Hsieh then joined forces in the deciding doubles rubber to defeat their Thai opponents 6-2, 6-2 and set up a semi-final against Kazakhstan today.
In the women’s volleyball, Taiwan defeated the Maldives 3-0, while in the handball Taiwan were defeated 27-14 by South Korea.
In women’s soccer, Taiwan lost their final group match 3-0 to Japan and they finished the competition with a point after their opening draw with Jordan.
Japanese swimming star Kosuke Hagino gave another glimpse of his vast potential by winning two more gold medals, while food safety came sharply into focus after the dangerous bacteria salmonella was found in athletes’ lunches.
The South Korean Food and Drug Safety Ministry confirmed 76 lunchboxes had been ditched and said the bacteria had been discovered in checks at the supplier.
“We check dish by dish,” a ministry official said. “The lunches were never delivered to the athletes. The checkup was done before delivery.”
The salmonella scare is not the first hiccup of the 17th Asian Games, but it is by far the most worrying and had the potential to cause athletes serious health problems.
Ri Jong-hwa gave North Korea their third weightlifting gold of the Games and left no one in any doubt who was responsible for her victory in the under-58kg category.
“Through the guts and courage given by our leader Kim Jong-un, I believe I could absolutely win,” Ri said proudly.
North Korean’s Sol Kyong also showed plenty of guts and courage in the women’s judo under-78kg final, but her South Korean rival Jeong Gyeong-mi had just a little bit more.
“I thought about quitting so many times because training was so hard,” Jeong said. “Sol Kyong was the world champion last year and she is the one who I am afraid of most. I’m just relieved I didn’t get injured and won in the end.”
The South Korean women’s 25m pistol team also won gold, but after taking 12 over the first two days of competition yesterday marked a significant speed bump in the hosts’ race for their stated target of 90 gold medals.
The shooting range provided some controversy when judges disqualified China from the women’s 10m air rifle team event, ruling that Zhang Binbin’s rifle had broken rules concerning maximum weight limits.
However, after the Chinese appealed, the decision was overturned and China’s trio were allowed to keep their gold medal — and the world record they set to get it.
Iran took silver behind China in the team event, but the color of the medal was not to Elaheh Ahmadi’s liking.
“I’m not satisfied with the results,” Ahmadi said. “This is because my shooting speed has become slower after I gave birth to my baby.”
Singapore’s sepaktakraw team were delighted to get a medal of any color after Laos were disqualified for arriving too late for their semi-final the previous night.
Laos explained that there was a mix-up with the schedule, but under the strict rules of the competition they were ruled to have been a no-show.
Medals were earned, not gifted, at the Munhak Park Tae-hwan Aquatics Center where Japan took four golds to China’s two.
A day after his devastating late sprint took down Olympic champions Sun Yang and Park Tae-hwan in the 200m freestyle, Hagino was back in the pool and back on the podium, winning gold in the 200 individual medley and 4x200m relay.
Also winning gold for Japan was Junya Koga in the 50m backstroke and Kanako Watanabe in the women’s 200m breaststroke, while China’s Shen Duo and Lu Ying answered in the women’s 100m freestyle and 50m butterfly.
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