Taiwan’s sprinters break national record, win silver

Taiwan’s men’s 4x100m relay team on Monday night won silver at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, winning Taiwan’s first medal in an Asian Games relay since 2010 while breaking the national record in the event with a time of 38.32 seconds.

Lai Po-hsiang, Chen Wen-pu, Huang Zuo-jyun and Yang Chun-han finished behind China, which won in 38.17 seconds. South Korea took bronze in 38.43. Taiwan’s previous national record was 38.41, set in June.

The silver was Taiwan’s third athletics medal at this year’s Games, following Fu Chao-hsuan’s men’s high jump gold on Sunday and Lin Chung-wei’s men’s 400m hurdles bronze earlier on Monday.

Taiwan’s silver medalist men’s 4x100m relay team pose for a photograph holding a Chinese Taipei flag at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, on Monday.

Photo: Reuters

Lai kept Taiwan in contention on the opening leg before passing to Chen, who ran the back straight. Huang closed the gap around the bend, and anchor Yang overtook South Korea to secure second place.

Yang, 29, was competing at his fourth Asian Games and won a medal for the third consecutive games. He said the team had felt good after Sunday’s heats and believed gold was within reach.

“I had even thought of what I would say if we won gold,” Yang said, adding that the silver — his first Asian Games relay medal — was nevertheless special.

Taiwan’s silver medalist men’s 4x100m relay team pose for a photograph at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, yesterday.

Photo: AP

Huang became tearful after the race as he thanked his mother, who died in March. He said he had prayed to her after experiencing a physical problem following the heats, hoping he could finish the final and help the team win a medal.

Chen also raced through injury. He said a torn plantar fascia in his left foot, sustained in July, had kept him from training in spikes until two weeks before the Games and still made every step painful.