Taiwanese win gold, silver and bronze in Japan

SOFT TENNIS: Yu Kai-wen and Huang Shih-yuan narrowly defeated their Japanese rivals to capture Taiwan’s first gold at the Asian Games in Nagoya

Yu Kai-wen (余凱文) and Huang Shih-yuan (黃詩媛) won Taiwan’s first gold of this year’s Asian Games, defeating a Japanese duo in a nail-biter in the soft tennis mixed doubles final in Nagoya, Japan, while Johnny Sun (孫家閎) won silver in wushu and Shih Cheng-chung (石政中) won bronze in men’s kumite.

Yu and Huang narrowly defeated Japan’s Toshiki Uematsu and Rena Temma 5-4 (2-4, 5-3, 4-2, 1-4, 1-4, 4-0, 1-4, 4-1, 7-5) to give Taiwan its first gold in soft tennis mixed doubles at an Asian Games since 2018.

Sun secured Taiwan’s first wushu medal at this year’s game, with a combined score of 19.453 points in men’s taijiquan-taijijian. He scored 9.733 points to finish second in taijiquan and 9.720 points to finish fourth in taijijian. He was 0.107 points behind gold medalist Liu Dewen (劉德文) of China.

Taiwan’s Yu Kai-wen, left, and Huang Shih-yuan celebrate after defeating Japan’s Toshiki Uematsu and Rena Temma in their soft tennis mixed doubles gold medal match at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, yesterday.

Photo: Mark Baker, AP

Taijiquan is the competitive form of taichi, performed through a sequence of controlled, flowing movements, while taijijian is a taichi sword routine. In the combined event, athletes perform both routines and their scores are added together to determine the final standings.

“After waiting 10 years, I finally made it to the Asian Games podium. The moment I stood there, it felt truly unreal,” Sun said after the competition, adding that he was grateful for his family’s support over the past decade.

A video message from his six-year-old son telling him to keep going gave him the confidence he needed ahead of the competition, the 30-year-old said.

Taiwan’s Yu Kai-wen, front, and Huang Shih-yuan in action against Japan’s Toshiki Uematsu and Rena Temma in their soft tennis mixed doubles gold medal match at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, yesterday.

Photo: Mark Baker, AP

Sun’s taijijian routine featured the song Call of Silence from the Japanese anime Attack on Titan, combined with Taiwanese elements to create a dramatic soundtrack.

Sun said he and his coach spent more than a month creating 15 versions of the arrangement before the Asian Games.

Sun won gold in taijiquan and silver in taijijian at the 2023 World University Games in Chengdu, China.

Taiwan’s Johnny Sun competes during the men’s wushu taijijian final at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, yesterday.

Photo: Eugene Hoshiko, AP

“Being 30 is just a number for me,” said Sun, the oldest of the Taiwanese wushu competitors in Japan.

Shih defeated Vietnam’s Khuat Hai Nam 9-3 to win the bronze medal in the men’s kumite under-67kg division.

He rebounded from a disappointing campaign at the Hangzhou Asian Games, where he lost in the bronze-medal bout.

Taiwan’s Shih Cheng-chung, left, in action against Syria’s Mohammad Darwish in the round-of-16 in the men’s kumite under-67kg division at the Asian Games in Nagoya, Japan, yesterday.

Photo: Andrew Couldridge, Reuters

It was Taiwan’s second karate medal in Nagoya, after Chien Hui-hsuan (簡慧萱) won bronze in the women’s individual kata on Sunday.

Shih advanced through the early rounds with a series of close victories, beating Tajikistan’s Alisher Sultonov 4-3 in the round-of-32, Syria’s Darwish Mohammed 5-1 in the round-of-16 and Qatar’s Yaman Alnatsheh 6-5 in the quarter-finals.

His run to the final four ended with a 2-5 loss to Japan’s Kozaki Yugo in the semi-finals, sending him to the bronze-medal match.

He said he hopes to return at the next Asian Games and upgrade his bronze to gold.

Meanwhile at Okazaki Chuo Sogo Park Baseball Stadium, Taiwan lost 5-0 to five-time champions South Korea in their opening Group B match in men’s baseball.

Taiwan today plays Thailand and tomorrow faces Hong Kong.

Group A consists of Japan, China, the Philippines and Palestine. The top two teams from the group stage go on to compete in the Super Round, which starts on Friday, while the bottom two teams go to the placement round. The championship and bronze medal games are to be held on Saturday.