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.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon