Euphoria at winning initial matches turned to tears in defeat as Taiwan’s taekwondo competitors on Friday crashed out of contention in Rio de Janeiro.
Chuang Chia-chia and Liu Wei-ting were both foiled in their dream of Olympic medal glory.
Earlier in the day, Taiwanese fans and officials were overjoyed at their success in the early stages of the competition.
Photo: EPA
In the round of 16, Chuang powered her way to a 16-2 victory over Cansel Deniz of Kazakhstan in the women’s 67kg event.
The happy cheers and celebration continued as Liu triumphed 14-2 over Aaron Cook of Moldova in the men’s 80kg round of 16.
Chuang and Liu were confident before their events began, with each promising to bring home a medal.
Local sports media rated them high on the list of contenders for gold or silver, priming fans to see the nation’s medal haul grow.
However, such ambitions were dashed after some hard-fought, close-range combat and flying-kick battles against competitors who have progressed in leaps and bounds over the past four years.
In the quarter-finals, Liu was knocked out of the competition after taking a conservative, defensive style. He was beaten by Oussama Oueslati of Tunisia 1-0 in a tie-breaker to take a golden-point win.
Liu finished ninth.
“It is a shame to lose this way, such a sudden way to get eliminated in the Olympics... I just have to put this behind me and train better for the next Olympics,” Liu said.
Next up was the women’s quarter-finals, where Oh Hye-ri of South Korea defeated Chuang on points 21-9, although Chuang — with one loss — still reached the medal round via a repechage.
Taiwan’s final taekwondo hope fought well for a 4-1 victory over Melissa Pagnotta of Canada to set up a bronze-medal bout against Nur Tatar of Turkey.
Chuang led by three points in the early phases, but Tatar finished stronger and the Turk takes home bronze, winning 7-3.
After the match, tears were flowing as Chuang spoke to reporters.
“I was leading, but lost concentration in the end and did not defend against the close-combat kicks. It is a bitter disappointment to lose this way, but I really gave it my best effort and have enjoyed the experience here,” she said. “It was regrettable that I could not add another medal for our Taiwan national team.”
The results marked the worst showing for Taiwan’s taekwondo team since the sport was first held at an Olympics in Sydney in 2000.
TOOTHLESS: Bologna never looked like finding a way back, and Antonio Conte and his substitutes were waiting to celebrate long before the final whistle SSC Napoli on Monday lifted the Italian Supercoppa with a 2-0 win over Bologna in Riyadh, David Neres netting both goals to earn the league champions a deserved victory over the toothless Coppa Italia winners. Neres opened the scoring with a stunning strike from distance six minutes before halftime and found the net again in the 57th minute when Bologna were caught trying to play out of defense. “We came here as champions of Italy, we wanted this trophy and we showed it with a great performance,” Napoli forward Matteo Politano told Mediaset. “We could have scored a few more goals, but
Backup quarterback Luke Weaver on Wednesday night threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to Nick Cenacle with 10 seconds left, as the University of Hawaii rallied for a 35-31 comeback victory over the University of California, Berkeley in a thrilling Hawaii Bowl. Weaver entered the game after Micah Alejado took a hard hit on the previous play. With the Rainbow Warriors (9-4) in range for a tying field goal, coach Timmy Chang took a shot at the end zone, and Cenacle got between two defensive backs and made the contested catch. “How amazing is that?” Chang said. “It’s a program that is built
Fulham on Monday climbed away from the English Premier League relegation zone and left Nottingham Forest mired in the fight for survival after Raul Jimenez’s penalty sealed a 1-0 win. Marco Silva’s side started the day just two points above fourth-bottom Forest, but Jimenez’s first-half goal at Craven Cottage moved them 10 points clear of the bottom three. While Fulham’s relegation fears were eased heading into the Christmas schedule, Forest are just five points ahead of third-bottom West Ham United in the scrap to avoid crashing into the Championship. Forest had won six of their previous eight games in all competitions, with a
Barcelona wingers Raphinha and Lamine Yamal on Sunday guided the Catalan giants four points clear at the top of La Liga with a 2-0 win at 10-man Villarreal. Brazil international Raphinha won and converted an early penalty, before Villarreal’s Renato Veiga was sent off before halftime for a late lunge on teenager Yamal. The 18-year-old slotted home Barca’s second midway through the second half, as Hansi Flick’s side restored their advantage on Real Madrid and won an eighth consecutive league game. Villarreal are fourth after Atletico Madrid moved ahead of them with a comfortable 3-0 win at Girona earlier. “The attitude and mentality of
RSS