Taiwan’s Huang Hsiao-wen on Sunday won a gold medal at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships in New Delhi.
Huang, 25, faced off against Yeni Marcela Arias Castaneda of Colombia in the final of the women’s bantamweight (52kg to 54kg) competition and secured a unanimous 5-0 decision at the biennial tournament.
Huang was in control from the opening bell, and used her height advantage to easily maintain a safe distance, throwing her signature left jab whenever her opponent tried to close in.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Huang’s victory was her second gold at the IBA world championships, following her 2019 win at the tournament in Ulan-Ude, Russia.
She is also an Olympic medalist, having won bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olymics.
Huang’s coach, Liu Tsung-tai, said her victory did not come easy, as she was feeling the pressure of having to do well after winning bronze in Tokyo.
Huang’s next challenge would be in September at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, which were postponed last year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Liu said.
When Huang last competed in the Asian Games in 2018, she won bronze in the featherweight category.
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi yesterday bowed out at the Malaysia Masters, defeated in the semi-finals a day after an epic quarter-final against the highest-ranked player left in the men’s singles draw. Lin lost to Weng Hongyang of China 21-13, 21-19 after a draining match against Japan’s Kodai Naraoka a day earlier in which the second game had 59 points. The 23-year-old left-hander had won his only previous BWF match against his Chinese opponent. However, Weng booked a place in today’s final after easing past the Taiwanese battler. He faces India’s H.S. Prannoy, who advanced when Indonesia’s Christian Adinata retired while trailing 19-17 in the
Unable to sleep the night before her first-round match at the French Open against second seed Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine checked her phone at 5am on Sunday and saw disturbing news back home in Kyiv. At least one person was killed when the capital of Kostyuk’s nation was subjected to the largest drone attack by Russia since the start of the war, launched with an invasion assisted by Belarus in February last year. “It’s something I cannot describe, probably. I try to put my emotions aside any time I go out on court. I think I’m better than
China has long been the sleeping giant of men’s tennis, but on Monday the giant stirred as Shanghai trailblazer Zhang Zhizhen advanced to the second round of Roland Garros. One of three Chinese men in the draw, Zhang became the first from the nation to win a main draw match at Roland Garros in 86 years after Serbian opponent Dusan Lajovic retired due to illness when trailing 6-1, 4-1. Compatriots Shang Juncheng and Wu Yibing bowed out in defeat, but 26-year-old Zhang has a big chance to go further when he takes on Argentine qualifier Thiago Agustin Tirante for a place in
Kosovo Olympic authorities have asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to open disciplinary proceedings against Novak Djokovic, accusing the Serb of stirring up political tension by saying “Kosovo is the heart of Serbia” at the French Open. Djokovic wrote the message on a camera lens following his first-round win on Monday, the same day that 30 NATO peacekeeping troops were hurt in clashes with Serb protesters in the Kosovo town of Zvecan where Djokovic’s father grew up. “Kosovo is our cradle, our stronghold, center of the most important things for our country,” 36-year-old told Serbian media. Serbian authorities said 52 protesters were wounded