Thu, Oct 05, 2023 page7

• Taiwan’s Kan out of gold medal bout

  MEDAL COUNT GROWS: Taiwan won silver in the soft tennis women’s team final against Japan, and took home bronze in the mixed team compound archery

  • Staff writer, with CNA
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  Taiwanese boxer Kan Chia-wei had to settle for silver in the men’s 63.5kg to 71kg weight class at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China, after being ruled out of Wednesday night’s gold medal bout due to an injury to his face.

  Kan sustained a cut above his eye during his semi-final against Bayramdurdy Nurmuhammedov of Turkmenistan on Tuesday, and it bled during the bout that Kan won by a 4-1 decision.

  Kan’s coach, Liu Tsung-tai, said that officials determined during the weigh-in yesterday morning that Kan could not compete in the finals because of the severity of the injury.

  

  Taiwan’s Kan Chia-wei reacts during his Asian Games men’s 63.5kg to 71kg semi-final against Turkmenistan’s Bayramdurdy Nurmuhammedov in Hangzhou, China, on Tuesday.

  Photo: Reuters

  It was unfortunate that Kan would miss the final and cede the gold medal to Japan’s Sewon Okazawa, but there was some consolation in that Kan became the first male boxer in any weight class from Taiwan to qualify for the Paris Olympics, Liu said.

  Kan, who also trains Taiwanese boxer Huang Hsaio-wen, faced a series of challenges before the Asian Games, including having to lose weight to compete in a different weight class and losing his mother.

  “I knew my mom was cheering for me up in the sky,” Kan said.

  

  From left, Taiwan’s Chen Yi-hsuan and Chang Cheng-wei pose during the medals ceremony for the Asian Games mixed team compound archery in Hangzhou, China, yesterday.

  Photo: AFP

  In archery, Taiwan’s Chen Yi-hsuan and Chang Cheng-wei won bronze in the compound mixed team event, defeating Adel Zhexenbinova and Andrey Tyutyun of Kazakhstan 157-154 in the battle for third place.

  The medal was the first for Taiwan in archery at the Hangzhou Asian Games.

  Twenty-eight-year-old Chen, who won a gold medal with Pan Yu-ping in the mixed team event at the last Asian Games in 2018, rarely shows any emotion when she is competing, in stark contrast to the 19-year-old Chang, who is full of energy.

  Chen said Chang’s enthusiasm was a plus for the team, because it helped ease the pressure of the competition, while Chang said he was worried that showing too much excitement would interfere with Chen’s approach.

  “But Chen was very considerate and told me to have fun,” he said.

  The two are to take part in the compound men’s and women’s team events today.

  In the soft tennis women’s team event Taiwan won silver after losing to Japan in the final.

  In a fierce match, Taiwan’s Kuo Chien-chi and Lo Shu-ting competed against Japan’s Takahashi Noa and Watanabe Emina.

  The Taiwanese pair rallied in the seventh and eighth games to force a tiebreaker after falling behind 2-4, but went on to lose 4-5.

  In the women’s singles, Taiwan’s Cheng Chu-ling prevailed 4-2 over Japan’s Onoue Kurumi.

  In the second women’s doubles match, Taiwan’s Huang Shih-yuan and Hsu Chiao-ying took a 3-0 lead over Japanese duo Shimuta Tomomi and Kubo Haruka, but then proceeded to lose five consecutive games.

  In their men’s basketball semi-final, Taiwan lost 71-90 to Jordan.

  As of 5pm yesterday, Taiwan ranked sixth on the medals table, having won 12 golds, 11 silvers, and 19 bronzes.
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