Taiwan won gold in men’s doubles badminton, silvers in women’s singles badminton and men’s artistic gymnastics pommel horse and bronze in men’s individual stroke play golf at the Tokyo Olympics July 31 to Aug. 1, bringing the country’s medal tally to 10 and rank by total to equal 15th with Brazil.
Lee Yang, 25, and Wang Chi-lin, 26, both of Taipei City, made quick work of Li Jun-hui and Liu Yu-chen of China July 31 in the finals to earn the country’s first-ever medal for badminton.
It is a dream come true to stand atop the podium at the games, Wang said, adding that the Tokyo appearance was a memorable way for the classmates from junior high school to debut at the Olympics.
Tai Tzu-ying, 27, a three-time Olympian from Kaohsiung City, southern Taiwan, kept the country’s medal streak in badminton alive Aug. 1 with a spirited three-game loss in the finals against Chen Yu-fei of China.
Two-time Olympian Lee Chih-kai, 25, from Yilan County in northeastern Taiwan claimed silver in the pommel horse Aug. 1 behind Max Whitlock of the U.K. and ahead of Kazuma Kaya of Japan for the country’s first-ever medal in gymnastics.
The run of medal firsts for the country opened earlier the same day in the golf on the back of a spirited bronze by two-time Olympian Pan Cheng-tsung, 29, from Miaoli County in northern Taiwan. He trailed Xander Schauffele of the U.S., gold, and Rory Sabbatini of Slovakia, silver.
According to the Sports Administration under the Ministry of Education, the country’s performance at the Tokyo Olympics is the best since its debut at the games in 1932. A total of 68 Taiwan athletes are contesting 18 sports such as archery, boxing, judo, table tennis, taekwondo and swimming. (SFC-E)
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