Taiwan shooters Lin Ying-shin and Lu Shao-chuan bagged the nation’s first gold medal at the 2018 Asian Games, winning the 10-meter air rifle mixed team event Aug. 19 in Palembang, Indonesia.
The pair scored a combined 494.1 points to beat out China’s Zhao Ruozhu and Yang Haoran on 492.5. Bronze went to Apurvi Chandela and Ravi Kumar of India.
Lin is ranked second globally in women’s 10-meter air rifle by the International Shooting Sports Federation, with the 19-year-old clinching singles gold in the discipline at the ISSF World Cup in Munich in May. Lu, 21, sits ninth in the ISSF rankings and claimed men’s singles bronze at the World Cup earlier this year.
After winning gold, the duo received a personal message of congratulations from President Tsai Ing-wen, who called their performance outstanding. And in a tweet on its official Twitter account, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the pair had done Taiwan proud.
The following day, Lu continued his medal-winning exploits, bagging bronze in the men’s individual 10-meter air rifle. This result brought Taiwan’s tally at the games to five.
The nation’s other medalists include Tsai Tse-min and Chen Ching, who won bronze in the men’s individual Wushu-Changquan and poomsae events, respectively. Chen Yi-hsuan, Chen Hsiang-ting and Lin Kan-yu also finished third in the women’s team poomsae.
According to the Ministry of Education, Taiwan has dispatched 588 athletes across 40 disciplines to the Aug. 19 to Sept. 2 games, marking its largest-ever delegation to the quadrennial event. At the previous edition in Incheon, South Korea, the nation won a total of 51 medals, including 10 golds. (KWS-E)
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