Taiwanese para-athlete Xiao Xiang-wen on Monday won Taiwan’s first gold medal at the Asian Para Games in China in the men’s K44 under-58kg taekwondo competition, while Taiwan’s Liu Ya-ting yesterday won bronze in the women’s F13 javelin event.
Xiao defeated Japanese para-athlete Mitsuya Tanaka 27-11 in the final at the Xiaoshan Guali Sports Center in Hangzhou.
Under International Paralympic Committee rules, the K44 designation includes athletes with unilateral arm amputation, or equivalent loss of function, or loss of toes, which affects the competitor’s ability to lift their heel properly.
Photo: CNA
He reached the gold medal bout after defeating South Korean taekwondo fighter Kim Tae-min 35-5 in the quarter-finals and Sanjarbek Mukhtorov of Uzbekistan 39-9 in the semi-finals.
Despite his decisive victories, Xiao said he was nervous about competing in his first Asian Games, adding that he at one point hyperventilated to the point that he felt like he was suffocating.
As this was the first time taekwondo has been included in the Asian Para Games, Xiao said the win was particularly exhilarating.
Photo courtesy of the Sports Administration via CNA
It was also special for his coach, Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Wu Yen-ni, because it fulfilled her dream of being part of a gold medal win.
Wu won a silver medal at the 2006 Asian Games in Doha in the women’s under-51kg category.
The 24-year-old Xiao took a circuitous route to Taiwan’s Asian Para Games team.
He originally wanted to join the national taekwondo team, but two days before a scheduled tryout, he was in a traffic incident that damaged nerves in his right arm.
After struggling with depression, his family, girlfriend and coach encouraged him to become a para-athlete to fulfill his goal of competing for Taiwan in international competitions.
Yesterday, the 32-year-old Liu broke into tears while thanking her coach and teammates after winning the women’s F13 javelin event with a throw of 33.4m on her fifth attempt.
She finished sixth in the event in the Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo in 2021.
Liu told reporters that she sustained shoulder and knee injuries just before the Tokyo Games, but felt good during training, so she still competed.
However, she misfired in early throws in Tokyo, which she blamed on nervousness, and was unable to do better than 30.38m in her first four throws, she said.
“I was off on my throws, either putting my weight into the throws too early or trying too hard,” she said. “But then my coaches helped me make the necessary adjustments.”
In throwing competitions, the F13 category is for athletes with visual impairments.
Liu, who has congenital macular degeneration, focused on track and field after realizing it was too late for her to start swimming, she said.
The Asian Para Games, which started on Sunday, end on Saturday.
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