Taiwan yesterday won a gold medal in the soft tennis mixed doubles and three bronze medals in cycling, judo and kurash, but faltered in the basketball and volleyball semi-finals at the Asian Games in Indonesia.
In a marathon match, Taiwanese duo Yu Kai-wen and Cheng Chu-ling finally prevailed 5-3 over South Korea’s Kim Ki-sung and Mun Hye-gyoeng in the mixed doubles.
It has been a fantastic Games for Cheng, who on Wednesday won the silver medal in the soft tennis women’s singles.
Photo: AFP
Cheng had tears in her eyes at the end of yesterday’s match, as she had vowed to come home from the Games with a gold medal.
Yu and Cheng took the opener, but dropped two sets before rallying to take another two. They eventually overcame the tenacious South Korean duo 4-1, 1-4, 2-4, 4-0, 4-3, 2-4, 4-2, 4-0.
“It was really tough, because my legs started to cramp up early in the match, but I had to endure it and adjust,” Yu told reporters in a post-game interview.
Photo: AP
“The key to winning the gold was making adjustments early to avoid Yu’s cramps, as well as changing tactics and altering positioning,” team coach Yeh Yu-ming said. “Their performance was perfect today.”
“The switch in position turned out to be in our favor,” he said, referring to the duo’s offensive position at the net instead of at the baseline.
In the cycling 3,000m women’s individual pursuit, Huang Ting-ying clocked a time of 3 minutes, 45.449 seconds, 4.511 seconds ahead of Indonesian Ayustina Priatna, to win the bronze medal.
Photo: AP
The title for the event went to Lee Ju-mi of South Korea, who defeated China’s Wang Hong in the final.
Huang, a veteran cyclist, won golds in the 3,000m individual pursuit and the points race at the 2016 Asian Track Cycling Championships in Japan.
Taiwan took another bronze in judo, after Lien Chen-ling defeated Sevara Nishanbayeva of Kazakhstan 10-0 in the women’s 57kg category.
“I felt bad after losing the in the quarter-finals, but my coach told me I can still advance through the repechage round, so I focused more and won two bouts in a row to take the bronze,” Lien said.
It was Taiwan’s second bronze in judo, after Yang Yung-wei triumphed over An Jae-yong of North Korea in extra time on Wednesday.
In kurash, Yang Hsien-tzu took the bronze in the women’s under-78kg division, after losing to Kumush Yuldashova of Uzbekistan 0-10 in the semi-finals.
Yang Hsien-tzu first attracted attention after winning gold in the division at last year’s Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Turkmenistan.
In the women’s basketball semi-finals, Taiwan fell behind Unified Korea 35-50 at halftime and ended up losing 66-89.
Ro Suk-yong from North Korea netted 17 points, as did her South Korean teammates Lim Yung-hui and Park Hye-jin.
Taiwan is to face Japan for the bronze medal tomorrow, while United Korea are to take on China for the gold.
Ro said that she struggled at times while defending due to her relatively small stature, but was backed up by 1.96m-tall US-based teammate Park Ji-su.
“It was difficult when I was trying to defend, because I am very short, so when I cannot defend, Park Ji-su did it,” said Ro, who is one of three North Korean players on the team. “Although I am feeling a bit tired, I think what’s important is we will be playing together in the final. We’ll do our best.”
On the men’s side, Taiwan was thrashed by China 86-63 and is to face South Korea for the bronze tomorrow.
In the men’s volleyball semi-finals, Taiwan lost to South Korea 2-3.
Additional reporting by Reuters and CNA
Robinson Cano spent 17 seasons playing in the MLB in front of all kinds of baseball fans, but he said there is something special about his stint with the Mexican Baseball League’s Diablos Rojos. He is not alone. The league last week opened its 100th season, aiming to keep an impressive growth in attendance that began after the national team’s surprise run at the 2023 World Baseball Classic, and is already surpassing some first-division soccer clubs. After finishing third in the 2023 tournament, many casual fans, some of them soccer enthusiasts disappointed after Mexico were eliminated in the first round in the 2022
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
Arne Slot has denied that Darwin Nunez was dropped from Liverpool’s win against West Ham because of a training-ground row with a member of his coaching staff. The Liverpool head coach on Sunday last week said that Nunez was absent from the 2-1 victory at Anfield, having felt unwell during training the day before, although the striker sat behind the substitutes throughout the game. Speculation has been rife that the Uruguay international, whom Slot criticized for his work rate against Wolves and Aston Villa in February, was left out for disciplinary reasons. Asked on Friday to clarify the situation, Slot said: “He
CUNNINGHAM CONNECTS: In the Eastern Conference, the Pistons snapped their record 15-game playoff losing streak by beating the Knicks to level their series at 1-1 Kawhi Leonard on Monday scored 39 points on 15-of-19 shooting as the Los Angeles Clippers evened their first-round NBA Playoffs series against the Nuggets with a 105-102 win in Denver. “It feels like he didn’t miss a shot,” James Harden said. “His shot-making ability is elite.” Good thing, too, because his teammates were a combined 26 of 66 for a 39 percent clip. “I made shots tonight,” Leonard said. “I just keep playing, try to stay in the zone no matter if I’m making or missing shots.” The fifth-seeded Clippers needed every bit of his brilliance to snatch the homecourt advantage in the series
RSS