Taiwanese athletes continued their winning ways at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, mainland China Nov. 23, picking up three gold and two silver medals in roller sports and another gold in cycling.
Sung Ching-yang swept all comers in the men’s inline skating 300-meter time trial and 500-meter sprint, while Lo Wei-lin placed second in both events. Huang Yu-ting finished on top in the women’s 500-meter sprint.
Hsiao Mei-yu followed suit in the women’s individual road race, collecting the country’s first-ever cycling gold at the games.
Sports Minister Tai Hsia-ling lauded the outstanding performance of Taiwanese athletes at the games, adding that a total of five gold, three silver and 11 bronze medals have come in eight sports that are part of the Olympics.
According to Tai, the Cabinet-level Sports Affairs Council has spent around NT$1.5 billion (US$48.7 million) to finance the training of athletes for the games.
“The results of these efforts have already started to show, especially for our younger athletes,” she said, citing gold medal performances of 18-year-old Wei Chen-yang and 17-year-old Huang Hsien-yung in taekwondo.
Taiwan is now fourth in the medal standings, with a total of 12 golds, 11 silvers and 29 bronzes, behind mainland China, Japan and South Korea. The country’s gold tally is already the highest since the Bangkok games in 1998 when it won 19.
With four days of competition left, Taiwanese athletes have the opportunity to pick up more medals in several events, including the men’s shot put and 400-meter relay, as well as women’s softball, karate and inline skating. (SB-JSM)