Taiwanese table tennis players Tian Shiau-wen (田曉雯) and Cheng Ming-chih (程銘志) have both secured medals after successfully advancing to the semi-finals in the Paris Paralympic women's and men's singles events yesterday.
After battling past Faith Obazuaye of Nigeria in the round of 16 in the women's singles TT10 on Sunday, Tian found her quarter-final opponent, Melissa Tapper of Australia, to be a formidable challenge.
Photo: Reuters
In the first two games, Tian repeatedly fended off Tapper's game points, narrowly winning 13-11 and 15-13, which put her at match point.
However, as her playing style became more predictable, she missed several match points in the fourth game, allowing Tapper to level the score.
A fortunate shot in the fifth game helped Tian secure an 11-8 victory over Tapper.
The Taiwanese athlete now advances to the semi-finals and is guaranteed to get hold of her second individual medal at this Paralympics.
"I'm happy that my results are at least the same as in the last Paralympics, but there are still some areas for improvement," Tian said. "I'll discuss them with my coach when I get back. I hope tomorrow's match will be even better than today's."
Tian, 24, also won silver in the women's doubles WD20 with Lin Tzu-yu (林姿妤) on Sunday.
"The boost from winning a medal in the women's doubles has made me want even more," she said. "From here on, I will give my all to go even further."
Meanwhile, Cheng secured his first medal in the men's singles TT5 by defeating Rio Paralympics gold medalist Cao Ningning (曹寧寧) of China with a score of 11-6, 6-11, 11-7 and 11-7 in just 29 minutes.
Tian is scheduled to face Natalia Partyka of Poland this evening at 7:45pm, while Cheng is to compete against Mitar Palikuca of Serbia at 6:15pm (Paris time).
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