Taiwanese athletes yesterday bagged three more gold medals at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, with wins in the men’s and women’s 3,000m speedskating relay and the men’s individual 1,000m canoe event.
In speedskating, the women’s team, comprising Liu Yi-hsuan (劉懿萱), Li Meng-chu (李孟竹), Yang Ho-chen (楊合貞) and Shih Pei-yu (施沛妤), defeated South Korea and India in a time of 4 minutes, 19.447 seconds.
The men’s team, made up of Chao Tsu-cheng (趙祖政), Huang Yu-lin (黃玉霖), Chen Yan-cheng (陳彥成) and Ko Fu-shiuan (柯福軒) also won gold by defeating South Korea and India with a time of 4:19.950.
Photo: CNA
The win was somewhat dramatic as South Korea were leading the way when Jung Cheol-won lifted his arms anticipating a victory as the finish line approached, but did not realize Huang was closing in. Taiwan beat South Korea by 0.01 seconds.
Meanwhile, Lai Kuan-chieh (賴冠傑) won a gold medal for Taiwan in the men’s canoe single 1,000m final.
In weightlifting, held back by multiple injuries, Olympic weightlifting champion Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳) was unable to defend her 2018 Asian Games title and settled for bronze in the women’s 59kg weight class.
Photo: AP
The 29-year-old Taiwanese entered yesterday’s competition with a back injury from earlier this year and also hurt her right thigh while warming up, she said after the event.
Clearly not at her best, she lifted 101kg in the snatch and 126kg in the clean and jerk for a combined 227kg.
Her combined lift was 4kg lighter than the 231kg she posted at the World Weightlifting Championships in Saudi Arabia earlier this month, where she finished fourth.
Photo: AFP
Kim Il-gyong of North Korea won the gold medal with a combined weight of 246kg, consisting of a world record snatch of 111kg and a clean and jerk of 135kg, to continue a stunning performance by the North Korea team in Hangzhou
Taiwanese sprinter Yang Chun-han (楊俊瀚) won bronze in the men’s 200m to score Taiwan’s first athletics medal at this year’s games.
The 26-year-old edged out Qatar’s Femi Ogunode, who was born in Nigeria, by 0.01 seconds to finish third in 20.74 seconds.
Taiwan’s softball team defeated the Philippines 3-2 to win the bronze medal in softball yesterday.
The victory kept Taiwan’s streak alive of medaling in every Asian Games softball competition since the sport became an official Asian Games event in 1990.
Taiwan’s e-sports team on Sunday night also won a bronze medal in a modified version of the video game PUBG Mobile.
In the event, four-person teams competed in four rounds of the game’s newly released “off-road racing” mode, in which competitors race and pass checkpoints where they can shoot at targets for additional points.
The tournament did not feature the game’s “battle royale” mode, as it was thought that having players shooting at each other was contrary to “Olympic values,” media outlets reported.
This year marks the first time the Asian Games have featured e-sports competitions.
Other e-sport categories include League of Legends, Street Fighter V: Champion Edition and EA Sports FC Online.
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
SEPARATE: The MAC rebutted Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is China’s province, asserting that UN Resolution 2758 neither mentions Taiwan nor grants the PRC authority over it The “status quo” of democratic Taiwan and autocratic China not belonging to each other has long been recognized by the international community, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday in its rebuttal of Beijing’s claim that Taiwan can only be represented in the UN as “Taiwan, Province of China.” Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) yesterday at a news conference of the third session at the 14th National People’s Congress said that Taiwan can only be referred to as “Taiwan, Province of China” at the UN. Taiwan is an inseparable part of Chinese territory, which is not only history but
INVESTMENT WATCH: The US activity would not affect the firm’s investment in Taiwan, where 11 production lines would likely be completed this year, C.C. Wei said Investments by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in the US should not be a cause for concern, but rather seen as the moment that the company and Taiwan stepped into the global spotlight, President William Lai (賴清德) told a news conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei yesterday alongside TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家). Wei and US President Donald Trump in Washington on Monday announced plans to invest US$100 billion in the US to build three advanced foundries, two packaging plants, and a research and development center, after Trump threatened to slap tariffs on chips made
RSS