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.
A runner who stopped during a marathon in China to pose doing the splits and another who hoarded energy gels have been banned for two years, the local athletics association said yesterday. The incidents happened during Sunday’s marathon in Sichuan Province’s Chengdu and were widely shared online. Videos showed a female runner stopping suddenly and dropping to the ground in the splits position, holding up her arms in a heart shape as she apparently posed for a photograph. She “committed obstructive fouls during the race, affecting the safe participation of other runners,” the Sichuan Athletics Association said in a statement, which identified
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
Liverpool star Mohamed Salah on Tuesday said that he would leave the English club at the end of the Premier League season, marking an earlier-than-planned departure for one of the club’s greatest-ever scorers and soccer’s biggest names. The 33-year-old Egypt forward, who has scored 255 goals in 435 appearances for Liverpool, “reached an agreement” to quit the team a year before his contract was due to expire, the Premier League champions said. Salah’s form has dipped in his ninth year at Anfield, to such an extent that he was dropped for a stretch of games late last year — leading to the
There were some big games to be played yesterday in the NBA, with the Atlanta Hawks to play the Detroit Pistons in a matchup pitting a Hawks team who are rolling against a Pistons team trying to lock up the Eastern Conference’s No. 1 seed. The Oklahoma City Thunder were to play the Boston Celtics, a showdown featuring the two most recent champions, while the Houston Rockets faced the Minnesota Timberwolves, a game that could factor mightily into Western Conference seeding. Elsewhere, the Washington Wizards were to play the Utah Jazz, with the Wizards on a 16-game slide visiting against a team
RSS