Hsu Shu-ching, a silver medalist at the 2012 Olympics in London, clinched top spot in the women’s 53-kilogram class. She lifted 101 kilograms in the snatch and 132 kilograms in the clean and jerk for a combined 233 kilograms, setting a new world record and beating rival Zulfiya Chinshanlo from Kazakhstan, the gold medalist in London.
“At the last lift, I did not think too much other than convincing myself I must relax when I get up there,” Hsu said. “All I could think of at the time was how much I wanted to win.”
Taiwan also won silver in the 10-meter air pistol women’s team final Sept. 20. Wu Chia-ying, Tu Yi Yi-tzu and Tien Chia-chen combined for 1,141 points to finish ahead of Mongolia at 1,140 but behind mainland China at 1,146.
Following this auspicious start to Day One of the games, Taiwan took bronze in the equestrian dressage team event with a score of 67.386, trailing South Korea and Japan at 71.746 and 69.842, respectively.
Taiwan also won bronze in the track cycling women’s team sprint finals. Hsiao Mei-yu and Huang Ting-ying did the nation proud, but were pipped by rivals from South Korea for the silver and mainland China for the gold.
Around 13,000 athletes are contesting for 439 gold medals at the 16-day event. Taiwan is looking to exceed its 2010 tally of 67 medals at the last edition of the Asian Games Guangzhou, mainland China. (SSC-JSM)
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