Taiwan’s athletes yesterday celebrated gold medals in karate and dragon boat racing, while wins in badminton and basketball made podium finishes possible at the Asian Games in Indonesia.
Wen Tzu-yun (文姿云) edged Kazakhstan’s Sabina Zakharova 1-0 in the women’s karate under-55kg division, before defeating Macau’s Wong Sok I 4-1 in their semi-final and defeating Iran’s Taravat Khaksar 4-0 in their final.
Wen is the first athlete to become the bantamweight champion in consecutive Games, as she also took home gold at the Asian Games in Incheon, South Korea, in 2014.
Photo: AP
Ranked world No. 1, Wen said she felt confident of beating her opponents.
“I just knew that I could do it. Then for some reason I got nervous and did not sleep well for a few days,” she said. “It was only last night that I felt my body was ready for it.”
In the men’s 500m dragon boat final, Taiwan outdistanced the other five teams.
Photo: AFP
The 16-member Taiwan team finished in 2 minutes, 11.691 seconds to take gold, followed by China in 2:14.297 for silver and Indonesia in 2:15.727 for bronze.
“The team performed at the top level that I knew they were capable of and the result was better than we expected,” said Huang Chun-ting, head coach of the men’s dragon boat team. “We got the team to stay relaxed when starting out ... while aiming for the final.”
“We have to stay focused to get another medal in the 1,000m,” Huang added.
The Taiwan women’s team finished their 500m dragon boat semi-final in 2:33.722 to take fourth — behind Indonesia, China and Singapore — but did not qualify for the final.
In badminton, Taiwan’s top players Tai Tzu-ying and Chou Tien-chen were victorious in their match, carrying them into the medal rounds.
World No. 1 Tai cruised past Nozomi Okuhara of Japan 21-15, 21-10 in their women’s singles match to face Saina Nehwal of India in the semi-finals.
Chou worked hard to beat Ng Ka Long of Hong Kong 21-18, 21-18 to face Anthony Ginting of Indonesia in the semi-finals.
Taiwan pairing Lee Yang and Lee Jhe-huei defeated Choi Sol-gyu and Kang Min-hyuk of South Korea 21-16, 21-16 to advance to the men’s doubles semi-finals.
In hoops action, the Taiwan women’s basketball team thrashed Mongolia 76-59 in their quarter-final to face the unified Korea team in the semi-finals on Thursday.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
Team Taiwan avoided missing the World Baseball Classic (WBC) for the first time by defeating Spain 6-3 in a do-or-die game in Taipei last night. After narrowly escaping a mercy-rule loss to Spain in the WBC Qualifiers opener on Friday last week, the home team — winner of last year's WBSC Premier12 title three months ago — got their revenge against the 2023 European champions at Taipei Dome. "It felt quite different from when we won the Premier12," Taiwan captain Chen Chieh-hsien (陳傑憲) said after the game, recalling the ups and downs the team has experienced over the past few days. Unlike in
RSS