Taiwan opened its Tokyo Olympics campaign in fine fashion with silver and bronze medals in the men’s 60-kilogram judo and women’s 57-kilogram taekwondo July 24 and 25, respectively.
Yang Yung-wei, a member of Taiwan’s indigenous Paiwan, won silver in the judo after falling to Naohisa Takato of Japan. The 23-year-old defeated opponents from Bulgaria, the Netherlands and France in that order for his chance at gold.
In a Facebook post, Yang said he is lucky, blessed and will keep working hard going forward. Nothing came easy, and the historic honor is for all supporters, he added.
Lo Chia-ling from New Taipei City won bronze in the taekwondo after defeating Tekiath Ben Yessouf of Niger. The 19-year-old overcame rivals from South Korea and Canada in that order before falling to Anastasija Zolotic of the U.S. in the semifinals.
In a Facebook post, Lo credited a multitude of passionate fans for giving her the strength to compete in the world’s most important sporting event, as well as improving on golds in the 55- and 52-kilogram competitions at the 2018 and 2016 World Taekwondo Junior Championships.
According to the Sports Administration under the Ministry of Education, 68 Taiwan athletes are contesting 18 sports at the games. These include artistic gymnastics, badminton, boxing, cycling, golf, swimming, table tennis and weightlifting. (SFC-E)
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