Taiwanese yesterday dominated the women’s artistic single free roller skating at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, with Hung Hsiao-ching (洪筱晴) and Chang Chih-ju (張緻如) winning the gold and bronze medals respectively, while Taiwan also won silvers in baseball, soft tennis and karate.
The 19-year-old Hung won with scores of 38.76 (short program) and 55.62 (long program) to finish with 94.38 points, while Chang, also 19, took bronze with an overall score of 79.51. Japan’s Miki Fujikura won silver.
Hung’s first-place finish gave Taiwan its 18th gold medal at the Games, surpassing the country’s 17 gold medals won at the previous edition in Jakarta in 2018.
Photo: CNA
Hung dedicated her medal to her late father, who she said she wished was alive to see her achievement.
In soft tennis, Taiwan’s Chang Yu-sung (張祐菘) took home a silver medal in the men’s singles, while compatriot Chen Yu-hsun (陳郁勳) won bronze after exiting in the semi-final.
Chang — who played his round-of-16 match, quarter-final, semi-final and final on the same day — defeated South Korean Yoon Hyoung-wook 4-3 in their semi-final, but lost to Japan’s Toshiki Uematsu 4-0 in the final.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
Chen battled past Thailand’s Kawin Yannarit before reaching the semi-final, where Uematsu beat him 4-3 in a close game.
On Wednesday, Chang won the silver medal in the men’s team event.
Taiwanese female karateka Ku Tsui-ping (辜翠萍) yesterday finished her Asian Games campaign with a silver medal in the women’s under-55kg kumite, falling 9-1 to Uzbekistan’s Sevinch Rakhimova in a one-sided match that lasted 2 minutes, 9 seconds.
Photo: Reuters
Winning the silver medal marked Ku’s return to the Games following her 2014 gold-medal-winning debut in Incheon, South Korea, where she won a gold in the women’s kumite, while fighting in the under-50kg category in 2014.
In men’s baseball, Taiwan won silver after losing 2-0 to South Korea in Shaoxing.
After South Korea’s Moon Bo-gyeon and Kim Hyung-jun scored in the second inning, Taiwan was unable to get on the board, but held their opponents to just two runs.
In the bronze-medal game, Japan pipped China 4-3.
Taiwan’s Wu Shao-Hsuan (吳少璿) won a bronze medal in the men’s kayak final, with a time of 97.12 seconds and no penalties.
That run initially placed him second behind Yuuki Tanaka of Japan.
However, Wu had to settle for bronze after the final competitor of the event, China’s Quan Xin (全鑫), finished in 89.24 seconds with no penalties.
Wu’s bronze is Taiwan’s third in kayaking and canoeing events at this year’s Asian Games.
On Friday, Taiwan’s first-ever Olympian kayaker, Chang Chu-han (張筑涵), won gold in the women’s kayak final, while Lai Kuan-chieh (賴冠傑) also topped the podium in the men’s canoe single 1,000m final.
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