Taiwan’s taekwondo golden couple came up short yesterday at the Beijing Science and Technology University Gymnasium, although Chu Mu-yen (朱木炎) did manage to win a bronze medal.
This makes him the most decorated Olympian in the country’s history, after he won gold in Athens four years ago in the same 58kg class. Pressure seemed to sap the spirit from Chu and his girlfriend, Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君), who were widely expected to win golds.
Yang, 22, scrapped to a 1-0 victory in her first 49kg fight, in the morning, and dispatched her Iranian opponent 2-0 to reach the semi-final.
But China’s Wu Jingyu (吳靜鈺), her great rival, was just too aggressive and powerful to overcome.
Backed by the home crowd, Wu got off to a good start and gave Yang little chance to recover. It was a reverse of the victory Yang had against Wu in May’s Asian Championship.
Then, in the bronze medal matchup, Daynellis Montejo of Cuba just beat Yang with a winning point in the extra round when it finished 3-3 in the third.
After the bout concluded and the formalities were over, a teary-eyed Yang fled the gymnasium.
Chu, on the other hand, managed to hang tough after losing to Yulis Gabriel Mercedes of the Dominican Republic 3-2 in the quarter-final.
The whole crowd seemed surprised at the loss, but in his bronze medal match Chu fought better, winning convincingly against Thailand’s Chutchawal Khawlaor 4-2.
The mainly Chinese audience called out his name and cheered a pleased-looking Chu.
Both Chu and Yang seemed tight in their key matches. Taiwanese Olympic delegation leader Tsai Szu-chueh (蔡賜爵) said the pressure got to them.
“Chu had a lot of pressure because he was defending his title and there were a lot of expectations on him,” Tsai said. “Today his fighting strategies were too conservative and he did not attack enough.”
Chu said he was also surprised to lose against Mercedes, adding he was a difficult opponent who kept falling back or over when he attacked and this confounded his fight strategy.
Outside the gymnasium it was a lockout for many Taiwanese, who couldn’t get tickets for the contests.
Inside there were scattered Chinese Taipei flags. Patty Tsai (蔡佩娟) and her colleague Yik Puiching (易佩貞) live and work in Beijing and had to make by hand their hats, stickers and banners supporting the nation.
The two advertising film executives said they were disappointed at Taiwan’s poor performance in taekwondo and baseball.
“But we still want to show our care and sincerity. We believe the athletes tried their best. There’s no point being bitter, we must just work harder,” Tsai said.
Tsai Szu-chueh said it was still possible to win two gold medals, to add to the nation’s three bronze, as he fancied Taiwan’s chances in the second round of the taekwondo competition today.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS