A taekwondo team from Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei in the 2008 Austrian Open in Innsbruck on Saturday and Sunday, has won nine gold, one silver and 15 bronze medals.
Results provided on the event’s Web site show Taiwan’s senior team captured five gold and six bronze medals at the taekwondo tournament, including two gold and two bronze medals by the four athletes scheduled to represent the nation at the Beijing Olympic Games next month.
Taiwan also won four gold, one silver and nine bronze medals in the juniors category.
PHOTO: EPA
Olympic hopefuls Chu Mu-yen won a gold in the men’s under-58kg flyweight class and Su Li-wen took gold in the under-59kg women’s featherweight class.
The other three gold medal winners in the women’s category who will not be going to Beijing awere Lee Wan-chen in the under-47kg class, Tseng Yi-hsuan in the under-55kg class and Tseng Pei-hua in the under-63kg class.
The two athletes scheduled to compete in Beijing who captured bronze medals were Sung Yu-chi in the men’s under-72kg class and Yang Shu-chun in the women’s under-51kg class.
In the male juniors category, the four gold medal winners were Wang Yu-hsuan in the under-45kg class, Lee Yu-ju in the under-48kg class, Lee Cheng-tsu in the under-59kg class and Yeh Hong-chieh in the under-78kg. Lee Chia-chen received a silver medal in the under-51kg class.
The Chinese Taipei Taekwondo Association said the team is scheduled to return to Taiwan tomorrow, and the four Olympic athletes will undergo a final period of intensive training before setting off for the Olympic Games in Beijing.
It is expected to be one of the few events in which Taiwan has a chance to win a medal. At the Athens Olympics in 2004, three of the nation’s five medals came in the taekwondo competition, including a gold medal won by Chu Mu-yen.
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