Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai (李智凱) on Sunday won gold in the men’s pommel horse competition at the FIG Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series in Baku, Azerbaijan.
With an overall score of 15.400 points, Olympic medalist Lee, also known as the “pommel horse prince,” tied with Stephen Nedoroscik of the US for first place, bringing the Taiwanese closer to winning a spot at the Paris Summer Olympics.
The competition in Baku is one of the International Gymnastics Federation’s four apparatus World Cup series events that serve as Olympic qualifiers. Competitions in Cairo and Cottbus, Germany, were held last month, while the last World Cup series event is in Doha from April 17 to April 20.
Photo grab from Azerbaijan Gymnastics Federation website
Although ranked 12th after the Cairo and Cottbus competitions, 27-year-old Lee on Sunday pulled off a particularly tough pommel horse routine to secure top spot in Baku.
Lee’s strategy in Azerbaijan, including the decision to take on a challenging move in his routine, propelled him ahead of at least two rivals who had outranked him in previous events, said his coach, Lin Yu-hsin (林育信).
Lin called Lee’s performance “almost perfect,” adding that the gymnast had given his all in the routine.
Photo: CNA
The win also helps boost global recognition of Taiwan’s gymnastic prowess, he said.
At the Tokyo Olympic Games, Lee won silver in the men’s pommel horse, and last year won golds at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, and at the Summer World University Games in Chengdu, China.
Shiao Yu-jan (蕭佑然), another Taiwanese pommel horse competitor, placed third in Baku with his highest-ever score of 15.300 points.
His coach, Cheng Kun-chieh (鄭焜傑), said Shiao should have been given a higher score because of a challenging move he completed.
In other events, Taiwanese horizontal bar standout Tang Chia-hung (唐嘉鴻) placed fifth with 14.200 points, but held on to the top overall spot following the first three Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series competitions.
Tang and coach Weng Shih-hang (翁士航) hugged after the event, as he was one step closer to securing an Olympic spot. With the No. 1 ranking, the gymnast nicknamed “King of Cat” is likely to qualify for Paris.
Taiwanese Tseng Wei-sheng (曾為聖) placed fourth in the men’s vault, while Ting Hua-tien (丁華恬) was sixth in the women’s parallel bars event.
US President Donald Trump yesterday announced sweeping "reciprocal tariffs" on US trading partners, including a 32 percent tax on goods from Taiwan that is set to take effect on Wednesday. At a Rose Garden event, Trump declared a 10 percent baseline tax on imports from all countries, with the White House saying it would take effect on Saturday. Countries with larger trade surpluses with the US would face higher duties beginning on Wednesday, including Taiwan (32 percent), China (34 percent), Japan (24 percent), South Korea (25 percent), Vietnam (46 percent) and Thailand (36 percent). Canada and Mexico, the two largest US trading
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
RSS