A minor case of heat stroke yesterday did not deter Chan Jung-jan (詹詠然) as she and her sister Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) won a much-anticipated gold medal in women’s doubles, beating Thai opponents Varatchaya and Varunya Wongteanchai in two straight sets.
The Chan sisters took the first set 6-1 in less than one hour, breaking their opponents’ serves in the fourth and sixth games.
However, Chan Jung-jan called for medical treatment during the break between the first and second sets, and medical staff sought to reduce her body temperature.
Photo: CNA
Despite an apparent decline in strength, Chan Jung-jan and her sister worked together to break the Thai sisters’ serves in the second game of the second set.
Though both kept their serves after the second game, the Wongteanchais’ relentless attack and defense paid off when they broke the Chans’ serve in the eighth game and kept their own serve at the ninth game, to take a 5-4 lead.
However, the Taiwanese pair proved unstoppable as they kept their own serve at the 10th game and broke their opponents’ serve in the 11th, giving them a 6-5 lead.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Chan Jung-jan’s powerful return at the net took the lead to 7-5 and won the Chans the gold.
Chang Kai-chen’s (張凱貞) hope of defending her Universiade singles gold medal title had been thwarted in the morning when she lost to Varatchaya Wongteanchai in straight sets in the semi-final.
She lost the first set 2-6 following a series of unforced errors and two broken serves. Though she broke Wongteanchai’s serve twice in the second set and forced a tie break, Chang appeared to run out of steam to finish 6-7 (3-7).
Photo: CNA
She said afterward that strained abdominal muscles and the diarrhea she has been suffering over the past few days had affected her performance.
However, Taiwan will still be represented in the women’s singles tennis final, as Lee Ya-hsuan (李亞軒) beat Thai Patcharin Cheapchandej 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to secure a spot. Lee is scheduled to face Varatchaya Wongteanchai in the women’s singles finals today.
As there is no bronze medalist match in the women’s singles, Chang and Patcharin are both going home with bronze medals.
Photo: CNA
Meanwhile, Jason Jung (莊吉生) moved one step closer to his goal of clinching a gold in his first Universiade game after defeating Portugal’s Nuno Borges in the men’s tennis singles semi-final in two straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.
He will face South Korean Hong Seongchan in the final.
Chan Jung-jan was scheduled to join Hsieh Cheng-peng (謝政鵬) in competing in the mixed doubles semi-final match, but was forced to retire due to physical reasons.
In badminton, world No. 1 Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) defeated Belgian Lianne Tan 2-1 to advance to the semi-finals in the women’s singles.
Taiwanese Chiang Mei-hui (江美惠) also secured a semi-final spot after crushing her South Korean opponent in two straight games, 21-13, 21-6.
Wang Tzu-wei (王子維), the only Taiwanese left in the men’s singles, beat French Lucas Florent Claerbout in three games, 21-12, 19-21, 21-12.
Wang Chi-ling (王齊麟) and Lee Chia-hsin (李佳馨) and Lee Yang (李洋) and Hsu Ya-ching (許雅晴) were the remaining pairs who fought their way into the semi-finals for the mixed doubles.
The pairs of Lee Yang and Lee Jhe-huei (李哲輝) and Hsu Ya-ching and Wu Ti-jung (吳玓蓉) advanced to the semi-finals for men’s and women’s doubles respectively.
In table tennis, world No. 8 Cheng I-ching (鄭怡靜) beat Romanian Irina Ciobanu in the women’s singles quarter-final match in four games to advance.
Chen Chien-an (陳建安) is also headed to the semi-final after defeating South Korean Lin Jong-hoon 4-3.
As of press time last night, Chen Chien-an and Chiang Hung-chieh (江宏傑), Lee Chia-sheng (李佳陞) and Liao Cheng-tin (廖振珽) had yet to finish their respective semi-final matches.
Meanwhile, Taiwanese wushu athlete Chen Yu-wei (陳宥崴) won a silver medal in the men’s taolu.
China’s Kong Fanhui (孔繁輝) won the gold with a score of 19.33 and Malaysia’s Loh Choon How the bronze.
Taiwan’s Chen Yi-ying (陳宜盈) won silver in women’s taolu.
Taiwan’s rhythmic gymnastics team finished their group competition with a silver medal.
Additional reporting by CNA
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