Taiwan on Thursday put up a fight against defending champions China in the men’s team final at the Asian Table Tennis Championships, but fell short 3-1 to win silver in the event for a third consecutive time.
Taiwan reached the men’s team final in the previous two Asian Championships in 2021 and last year, but lost to South Korea and China respectively.
Led by 23-year-old Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s men were hoping to come away with gold this year and reached the final after edging past Hong Kong and shutting out India, despite the absence of veteran paddler Chuang Chih-yuan.
Photo: screen grab from Facebook
However, China have the top five men’s singles players in the world, according to the International Table Tennis Federation’s latest rankings, and beating them was always going to be a long shot.
In the best-of-five final in Astana, Kazakhstan, Taiwan opened with 19-year-old Kao Cheng-ju against China’s top-ranked player Wang Chuqin.
Kao made it close in the first game, but could not deal with the pressure to his backhand side as the match went on and he lost to Wang 11-9, 11-5, 11-6.
It was then up to Lin to pull Taiwan back against 19-year-old Lin Shidong, who won the men’s singles title at the China Grand Smash, improving his ranking to world No. 3.
The Taiwanese lost the first two games, won the the third, and was locked in a tight battle in the fourth, but could not convert at key moments and ended up losing 11-7, 11-7, 8-11, 12-10.
On the brink of elimination from the final, Taiwan sent world No. 70 Huang Yan-cheng to play the third match against world No. 5 Liang Jingkun.
Showing great determination, Huang took the favored Liang to five games.
Despite failing to convert three match points, Huang held his nerve and won the match 7-11, 11-7, 1-11, 11-9, 13-11 to secure Taiwan’s first point.
Lin Yun-ju again had a chance to even up the score for Taiwan against China’s Wang and started out strongly, winning the first two games, but once he lost the third game he seemed to rush his play, and Wang ended up winning 1-11, 8-11, 11-8, 12-10, 11-4, sealing Taiwan’s fate.
It was the fifth time Taiwan won silver in the men’s team event at the Asian Championships, having achieved the feat previously in 2000, 2003, 2021 and last year.
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
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting
‘SETTING THE TONE’: Donovan Mitchell said that their determination to dominate had nothing to do with past results, but was about a potential post-season clash The Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday boosted their NBA-best record with a 142-105 romp past the New York Knicks, tightening their grip on the Eastern Conference lead with an all-around dominant display. Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures, connecting on five of seven three-pointers as Cleveland drilled 19 from beyond the arc. “I think the biggest thing was just try to set the tone early,” Mitchell said, adding that the determination to dominate had nothing to do with the Knicks’ first-round playoff win over the Cavs two seasons ago and everything to do with
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
RSS