Taiwan won four gold, five silver and eight bronze medals to rank 12th in the overall standings at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics July 18-30 in Samsun, Turkey.
The nation’s 17 medals were the ninth most won by a participating country. Taiwan’s 12th place ranking marked an improvement of one position from the previous edition of the competition four years ago in Sofia, Bulgaria.
More than 2,300 athletes from 80 nations competed in 21 sporting categories at the 23rd edition of the international games for the deaf in Samsun. Taiwan sent a 106-person delegation to the event comprising 61 athletes as well as coaches, support staff and officials.
The nation’s first gold at the competition was claimed by Chang Li-hsiao, who won the bowling men’s singles title July 20 after beating Russian rival Vladimir Grigoryev by a score of 255 to 192.
Lin Chia-wen and Ho Chiu-mei bagged the second gold for Taiwan July 27 by defeating Marine Beney and Aurelie Coudon of France in the tennis women’s doubles final 6:1, 6:4. The pair also medaled in the women’s singles event, with Lin earning gold July 28 after overcoming Polina Smirnova of Russia 6:2, 6:2 and Ho bronze the same day with victory over Verena Fleckenstein of Germany 6:0, 6:2.
Taiwan’s fourth gold medal was claimed by the women’s bowling team, which won the Team of Five event July 28 by defeating competitors from South Korea.
All of Taiwan’s medal winners received congratulatory messages from President Tsai Ing-wen, Vice President Chen Chien-jen, Premier Lin Chuan and Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung, who commended the athletes for their outstanding performances.
The Summer Deaflympics, an International Olympic Committee-sanctioned event, is held every four years in a different city around the globe. In line with Olympic convention, medal table rankings are determined first based on the number of gold medals won, then silver and bronze.
Taiwan has participated in each edition since 1993, winning a total of 92 medals—27 golds, 31 silvers and 34 bronzes. In 2009, Taipei City hosted the 21st Summer Deaflympics, at which the Taiwan team delivered its best-ever performance by claiming 11 golds, 11 silvers and 11 bronzes to rank fifth in the overall standings. (KWS-E)
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