History repeated itself yesterday, as Taiwan’s Chuang Chih-yuan again lost an all-important table tennis match to Germany’s Dimitrij Ovtcharov, ending the Taiwanese men’s Olympic run, as they only won two of their five matches in the team quarter-finals.
Nine years ago in London, Chuang lost to Ovtcharov in a six-game heartbreaker in the final game of the men’s singles bronze-medal decider.
Yesterday, the 40-year-old veteran was again defeated by the German, losing 8-11, 9-11, 7-11 at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gym.
Photo: AP
Commenting on yet another loss to Ovtcharov, Chuang praised his opponent for his tenacity.
He also said that his fifth and probably last Olympic appearance went okay, but there is always room for improvement.
The only bright spot for Taiwan is 19-year-old sensation Lin Yun-ju, who beat Ovtcharov 3-2 in one of his two singles matches.
Photo: AFP
Team coach Chiang Peng-lung praised Lin for yet another outstanding performance at his first Olympics and said the team had done its best.
In Taiwan’s first match yesterday, Chuang and Chen Chien-an lost 0-11, 6-11, 6-11, 10-12 to Patrick Ranziska and Timo Boll of Germany.
Lin then won two singles matches against Ovtcharov and Ranziska, while Chen lost one to Boll before Chuang lost the final match to his old rival.
Yesterday’s loss marked the end of Taiwan’s participation in table tennis at the Tokyo Olympics. They leave with one bronze medal, won by Lin and Cheng I-ching in the mixed doubles.
The Taiwanese men’s and women’s teams finished fifth in Tokyo, the best showing for both squads at the Olympics.
Germany’s men are to go head-to-head today with hosts Japan, who defeated them in the semi-finals in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
“We lost to Japan five years ago in Rio, and we want to make it better this time,” Ovtcharov said.
“For Japan, it’s the most important match in their home Olympics. We’re also a little bit happy that the hall is not completely full,” Boll joked.
“But yeah, we will prepare like we always did, we give it our best and try everything,” he added.
In the 110m hurdles, Taiwan’s Chen Kuei-ru gave his best performance this season, finishing fifth in his first-round heat to qualify for the semi-final, which is being run tomorrow.
In the individual qualifier for equestrian jumping, Taiwan’s Jasmine Chen placed 47th. She did not progress to the final, as she was not in the top 30.
BOUNCING BACK: Antetokounmpo had just returned from an eight-game injury absence last month, leading the Milwaukee Bucks to their third win in four games Giannis Antetokounmpo threw down the game-winning dunk with 4.7 seconds remaining to lift the Milwaukee Bucks to a 122-121 victory over the Charlotte Hornets and grab a slice of NBA history on Friday. The Bucks trailed by as many as 16 on their home floor, but Antetokounmpo scored 12 of his 30 points in the final quarter to help seal the win in a frantic finish that saw five lead changes in the final 45.7 seconds. The two-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) added 10 rebounds and five assists. It was his 158th regular-season game with at least 30 points, 10 rebounds and
For the first time in almost 36 years, a Parisian derby will be played in French soccer’s top flight when reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain FC take on the nouveau riche Paris Football Club (PFC) today. Not one of the players involved in today’s match — PFC’s 38-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Remy Riou is almost certainly not going to be involved — was born the last time there was a Parisian derby in Ligue 1. That was on Feb. 25, 1990, when Moroccan midfielder Aziz Bouderbala scored a brace as Racing Paris 1 beat PSG 2-1 at the Parc des Princes home that
Stan Wawrinka’s 40-year-old legs did not let him down over three-plus hours in his first singles match of a farewell tour yesterday. Three-time Grand Slam singles champion Wawrinka beat Arthur Rinderknech of France, who is ranked 29th to Wawrinka’s 157th, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (5). The match went 3 hours, 16 minutes. Wawrinka last month announced that this year would be his last on the ATP tour. “Today was a tough battle ... it’s amazing to come here for the first time, to have so much support,” Wawrinka said yesterday. “Twenty years on tour, you kind of always play in the same place
Manchester City have confirmed defender Josko Gvardiol suffered a broken leg in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium. Gvardiol was one of two City centerbacks who went off injured in the second half, along with Ruben Dias, before Enzo Fernandez scored a stoppage-time equalizer for the visitors. The draw left second-placed City six points behind English Premier League leaders Arsenal. City, announcing Gvardiol sustained a tibial fracture to his right leg, added in a statement issued on Monday: “The defender will have surgery later this week and assessment remains ongoing to ascertain the full extent of the
RSS