Taiwan's mixed badminton team defeated China in the gold medal match Wednesday, securing the nation's second gold medal at the 2023 Chengdu World University Games and defending the title they won in 2017.
The Taiwan team lost the first mixed doubles match to China 0:2, but male shuttler Lin Chun-yi (林俊易) took a point by defeating China's Wang Zhengxing (王正行) 2:0.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation
For the third point, Taiwanese player Hsu Wen-chi (許玟 琪) lost to her Chinese opponent Han Yue (韓悅) in the women's singles 0:2.
Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation
In the men's doubles Taiwan's Lee Fang-chih (李芳至) and Ye Hong-wei (葉宏蔚) then beat the Chinese pairing Ren Xiangyu (任翔宇) and Tan Qiang (譚強) 2:1 in a close match.
For the decisive fifth point, Taiwan's Lee Chia-hsin (李 佳馨) and Teng Chun-hsun (鄧淳薰) took down China's Lee Wenmei (李汶妹) and Liu Xuanxuan (劉玄炫) 2:0 in a closely contested match.
This is the second time Taiwan has won the mixed badminton team gold medal at the Universiade after victory in 2017, the last time the event was included, when the team included the country's top shuttlers Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) and Wang Tzu-wei (王子維).
Earlier Wednesday, the team swept Malaysia 3:0 in the semifinal, with mixed doubles duo Ye and Lee taking the first point, followed by victories for Lin and Hsu in the men's and women's singles.
Meanwhile, Taiwan taekwando athlete Jung Jiu-jie (鍾俊 傑) won a silver medal after losing in the over 87 kilogram taekwando final to world No. 4 Emre Atesli of Turkey.
Female taekwando athlete Ma Ting-hsia (馬婷霞) took bronze Wednesday after losing to China's Xu Lei (徐蕾) 0:2 in the women's over 73 kilogram taekwando semifinal, while Chiu Shao-hsuan (邱少萱) also took bronze in the women's 62 kilogram taekwando semifinal, after losing 0:2 to Thailand's Sasikarn Tongchan.
Taiwan's taekwando athletes have won a total of eight medals at the Universaide this year.
As of Wednesday, Taiwanese athletes had won two gold, nine silver and 11 bronze medals at the games.
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