Taiwan’s Chin I-chun and Chiu Yi-jui on Monday won silver and bronze medals respectively in taekwondo at the Summer World University Games in Essen, Germany, while Taiwan’s women’s volleyball team scored a comeback victory against China in Berlin, their first victory over their regional rivals since 2013.
Competing in the women’s over-73kg division, Chin received a bye in the qualification round before winning her next two matches to advance to the semi-finals, where she faced Poland’s Dagmara Haremza.
Despite her height disadvantage, Chin held her ground in a tightly contested first round, forcing her opponent into two penalties for losing her balance to win the round 2-1.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation via CNA
Although she fell behind in the second round due to a penalty, Chin seized a late opportunity in the final seconds to reverse the score and again win the round 2-1, earning her a 2-0 victory and a spot in the gold medal contest against Song Dabin of South Korea.
Despite her strong defensive efforts, Chin was unable to fend off Song’s attacks and was repeatedly struck with head-level kicks. She ultimately lost 2-0 to take a silver medal for Taiwan.
Chiu — who won a silver medal at the delayed 2021 Summer World University Games held in Chengdu, China, in 2023 — moved up from the men’s 68kg to the 74kg division in Germany.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation via CNA
He advanced to the semi-finals without dropping a single round, before falling to Georgia’s Zurab Kintsurashvili 2-0 (losing 9-6 and 11-8 in the two rounds) to settle for bronze.
Taiwan now has 13 medals — three golds, five silvers and five bronzes — ranking sixth among the 34 participating nations.
The Taiwan women’s volleyball team were last night after press time to face Poland for fifth place after defeating China.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation via CNA
Despite losing their first two sets, Taiwan turned the tide to top China in the next three sets 25-19, 25-23 and 15-9 to take the best-of-five match.
During the fourth set, the teams were tied 21-21 when Taiwan took three points and reached set point first, before spiker Liu Shuang-ling took the set with a smash.
In the final 15-point set, Taiwan were down 6-7, before scoring nine points to China’s two.
Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation via CNA
The last time the Taiwan women’s volleyball team beat China in the World University Games was in 2013 in Kazan, Russia, with a 3-0 clean sweep during the preliminary round, according to the International Volleyball Federation.
The highlight of the match was Taiwan’s opposite hitter Chang Yi-chi, who scored 29 points, the most on the team.
“We gave it our all, and we could tell the opponents were under pressure,” she said in a post-match interview.
She also credited her teammates’ performance, saying that “the team won this match together.”
Meanwhile, 18-year-old Chiang Ching-yuan from National Taiwan Sport University was last night to compete in the women’s shot put final after qualifying on Monday with a 16.6m throw on her first attempt.
Her second attempt in Group A qualifying was a scratch, while her third was 16.46m. She finished third in her group and sixth overall.
In table tennis, Taiwan’s Feng Yi-hsin and Tsai Yun-en crashed out of their mixed doubles quarter-final with a 4-3 loss to China’s Zeng Beixun and Han Feier.
Nottingham Forest FC are to go into the Europa League play-off round after a 4-0 win over Ferencvaros TC on Thursday, while Celtic FC secured their place in the knockout phase with a victory over FC Utrecht. Aston Villa FC finished second in the league phase after recovering from two goals down to beat FC Red Bull Salzburg 3-2 with their spot in the last 16 already assured. Forest stood an outside chance of climbing into the top eight going into the final round of matches, but needed to beat Robbie Keane’s Ferencvaros and rely on other results going their way. Sean Dyche’s
HEATED RIVALRY: The pair had met 14 times previously, with Sabalenka winning eight of the encounters and entering the final as the favorite to take the title Elena Rybakina took revenge over world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka to win a nail-biting Australian Open final yesterday and clinch her second Grand Slam title. The big-serving Kazakh fifth seed held her nerve to pull through 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne in 2 hours, 18 minutes. It was payback after the Belarusian Sabalenka won the 2023 final between two of the hardest hitters in women’s tennis. The ice-cool Rybakina, 26, who was born in Moscow, adds her Melbourne triumph to her Wimbledon win in 2022. It was more disappointment in a major final for Sabalenka, who won the US Open
Denver superstar Nikola Jokic returned from a 16-game injury absence to post a 31-point, 12-rebound double-double on Friday and propel the Nuggets to a 122-109 NBA victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Three-time NBA Most Valuable Player Jokic had not played since suffering a bone bruise in the left knee he hyperextended in a game against Miami on Dec. 29 last year. The Serbian big man did not miss a beat. He led all scorers, connecting on eight of 11 shots from the field, and also handed out five assists with three steals while playing just 24 minutes, 32 seconds as the
BATTERED AND BRUISED: Alcaraz suffered a cramp in the third set, but was allowed treatment despite Zverev’s protests, and continued on to win in five-and-a-half hours An ailing Carlos Alcaraz battled past Alexander Zverev yesterday in five epic sets to reach his first Australian Open final and move within a match of becoming the youngest man to complete a career Grand Slam. The world No. 1 outlasted the German third seed 6-4, 7-6 (7/5), 6-7 (3/7), 6-7 (4/7), 7-5 over a titanic 5 hours, 27 minutes in hot conditions to head to tomorrow’s title match. He only narrowly avoided crashing out after a huge fright at 4-4 in the third set when he pulled up in pain with what appeared to be cramp. He was allowed to have treatment
RSS