Staff writer,
with CNA, Hangzhou, China
Taiwan finished their Asian Para Games campaign on Saturday with a total of four gold, four silver and 12 bronze medals, with their table tennis team winning 10 medals.
Taiwan was 13th for medals among 44 countries and regions on the last day of the games, which started on Sunday last week.
Taiwan’s table tennis team won three gold, three silver and four bronze medals, with Lin Tzu-yu clinching golds in women’s class 10 singles and mixed class 17-20 doubles, as well as a silver in the women’s class 20 doubles with Tien Shiau-wen, who won the silver in the class 10 singles.
Photo courtesy of the Sports Administration via CNA
With her singles gold, the 23-year-old Lin also secured an early ticket to the Summer Paralympic Games in Paris next year.
Lin Tzu-yu, who started playing table tennis in elementary school, sustained a torn ligament in her right hand in a car accident in junior-high school.
After winning her doubles gold with Lin Chun-ting on Friday, Lin Tzu-yu said she was ready to go home.
“After five matches in one day, it’s exhausting, and I’ve never participated in such an important sporting event,” she said.
“All I want is to see my family now,” she added.
The mixed doubles duo, who began competing together in July, beat China’s Lian Hao and Xiong Guiyan 11-7, 11-8, 14-16, 11-8 in their final.
“Hangzhou might be my lucky land,” Lin Chun-ting said.
The 32-year-old, who has muscular atrophy in his thumb, was working as an engineer before resuming his table tennis career.
He told reporters that after winning the gold medal, he was sure he had made the right decision to return to the sport.
Sixteen-year-old table tennis player Chen Po-yen, who is also to represent Taiwan at the Paris Paralympics, won gold in the men’s class 11 singles and a silver with Li Jing-shiuan in the mixed class 22 doubles.
Taiwan sent a record 94 athletes to this year’s Asian Para Games, competing in 14 different sports, including taekwondo, wheelchair fencing and go, with Taiwanese athletes making their debut appearances. Taiwan also secured its first-ever medals in taekwondo, archery and go in Hangzhou.
At the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Taiwan won two golds, nine silvers and 14 bronzes.
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