Taiwanese table tennis player yesterday Tien Shiau-wen won the nation’s first medal at the Tokyo Paralympic Games: a bronze in the women’s singles class 10 event.
The 21-year-old first-time Paralympian began the day with a 3-1 victory against Merve Cansu Demir of Turkey in the quarter-finals.
In the semi-finals, she met the bronze medalist at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, Bruna Costa Alexandre of Brazil.
Photo courtesy of the Kaoshiung Sports Development Bureau
Tien won the first game 14-12, but Costa Alexandre came back to clinch the following three games 11-6, 12-10 and 11-7, winning the match and securing herself a place in the gold medal match scheduled for tomorrow.
Tien’s coach, Tsai Kuei-lan, on Friday said that Tien exceeded expectations when she won all three of her group matches, and she never showed the stage fright that many athletes experience when competing in their first major event.
Tien was the only one of the four Taiwanese table tennis players to reach a medal match at the Tokyo Games, after three others were eliminated on Friday.
From Wednesday, she is to compete in the women’s class 9-10 team event with Lin Tzu-yu.
Class 6-10 are standing classes in table tennis at the Paralympics, while class 1-5 are sitting classes for players in wheelchairs.
Taiwan sent of 10 athletes to the Tokyo Paralympics and several of them have finished competition, including a six-time Paralympian, 45-year-old powerlifter Lin Ya-hsuan, who finished seventh in the women’s under-61kg weight class.
Also yesterday, 30-year-old Liu Ya-ting finished sixth in the women’s standing javelin final with a distance of 32.44m, her best of the season.
In swimming, 19-year-old Chen Liang-da is to race today and tomorrow.
With badminton matches to begin on Wednesday, 22-year-old Fang Jen-yu is to compete in the men’s singles SU5 event for athletes who can stand, but have an upper limb impairment.
The Cleveland Cavaliers on Tuesday emphatically got back to winning ways in the NBA, coasting to a 109-94 victory over the New York Knicks as their recent star signing, James Harden, scored 20 points. The Cavs took the lead barely a minute into the game with an Evan Mobley three-pointer and never gave it up in a thoroughly comfortable night for the red-hot Ohio franchise. Former NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Harden, who was brought in from the Los Angeles Clippers this month, has never won a championship, despite being one of the most decorated players in the league. That was a key
LATE RALLY FAiLS: Jalen Duren led a late Detroit Pistons fightback, but it ultimately fizzled as a resolute San Antonio Spurs saw out the game Victor Wembanyama on Monday led a defensive masterclass as the San Antonio Spurs outmuscled the Detroit Pistons 114-103 in an intense and aggressive clash between the NBA’s two most in-form teams. Sitting second in the Western Conference, the Spurs were pushed hard for their ninth straight victory by the East-topping Pistons, who had entered the home court matchup on a five-game winning streak of their own. Defenses dominated the first meeting between the two sides this season, with Wembanyama making six blocks and 17 rebounds to fuel transitions as the Spurs pulled clear in the latter stages. While the Pistons’ shooting was at
HAT-TRICK: In the other games, Newcastle United and Leverkusen also advanced, as did Atletico Madrid, with Alexander Sorloth scoring three goals What a difference a year makes. Or nine months to be precise. Last season, Inter reached the UEFA Champions League final in style, with thrilling victories over Bayern Munich and Barcelona, but on Tuesday, the Italian giants limped out of the competition with a disappointing 2-1 loss at home to Bodo/Glimt — knocked out in the playoff round 5-2 on aggregate — in what is being labeled as one of the biggest upsets in Champions League history. It was not the first major upset the tiny Norwegian team have pulled off this season after wins over Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, and
Fenerbahce on Thursday earned a rare 2-1 win in England, but were still knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by Nottingham Forest in the playoffs. Forest entered the second leg with a healthy 3-0 lead from the opener in Istanbul — where Vitor Pereira made an impact in his first game in charge — and that proved enough to advance to the round-of-16 with a 4-2 aggregate score. The result was a boost for Forest, struggling at 17th place in the Premier League, in their return to Europe after three decades. They next face Real Betis Balompie or Kerem Akturkoglu gave Fenerbahce
RSS