Taipei, Aug. 22 (CNA) Roller sports was one of the optional sports added to the 2017 Taipei Universiade by the host nation, and it's not hard to see why.
Taiwan won seven medals in inline speed skating on Tuesday, including three of the four gold medals contested, to bring its total to 13 in roller sports events in just two days of competition.
Yang Ho-chen, who won gold on Monday in the women's 10000m points-elimination race, was the star of the day, taking gold in the women's 15000m elimination race and the women's 1000m sprint.
Li Meng-chu of Taiwan took silver in both races.
In the longer distance race, Yang crossed the finish line first in a time of 26 minutes, 57.916 seconds followed by Li (26:58.034) and Maria Gil Taborda of Colombia (26:58.964).
She also edged Li by .079 seconds in the 1000m sprint, with Monday's gold medalist in the 300m sprint, An Yi-seul of South Korea, taking bronze, .197 seconds off the pace.
It was a battle between Taiwan and Colombia in the men's 15000m elimination race earlier in the day, which was won by Carlos Franco Perez of Colombia in 24:09.63.
He edged out Ko Fu-shiuan of Taiwan (24:09.763) and Carlos Perez Canaval of Colombia (24:09.999) for the top spot on the podium.
Chuang Shao-chun of Taiwan finished fourth in 24:10.066.
In elimination races, skaters in last place at the end of specified lap numbers are eliminated as the race progresses, whittling the field down to four or five racers, who then compete to see who crosses the finish line first.
In the men's 1000m sprint, Huang Yu-lin took gold in a time of 1:24.020, outpacing Ko (1:24.476) and Jeong Byeong-kwan (1:24.520) of South Korea, continuing a banner day for the hosts.
Huang thanked his coach for the winning race strategy and Taiwan teammate Ko Fu-shiuan for helping him snatch the gold medal.
When speaking to the press, Huang and Ko said this win avenged their previous loss to the South Korean team at the 2016 Asian Roller Sports Championships in Lishui, China.
Taiwan also managed a medal in weightlifting on Tuesday when Taiwan's Chiang Nien-hsin edged Liao Xiuzhu of China for the bronze medal in the women's 63 kg weight class.
Chiang, who won gold at the 2014 Youth Olympic Games in Nanjing, had a combined lift of 223 kg, including the second best clean & jerk of the competition of 126 kg, to Liao's 222 kg.
Rim Un-sim of North Korea won gold by setting a Universiade record with a combined lift of 236 kg., and Tima Turieva of Russia took silver at 226 kg.
Also on Tuesday, Taiwan's archers put themselves in position to battle the formidable Koreans for gold in archery, traditionally one of the Olympic sports in which Taiwan is competitive.
Both the men's and women's recurve teams set up gold medal battles against South Korea on Aug. 24. The women cruised past Estonia, India and Russia to secure their spot in the finals, while the men barely escaped a sudden death shoot-off with Poland before getting past France and Russia to earn a shot at gold.
A day earlier on Monday, Taiwan's Tan Ya-ting, ranked sixth in the world, reached the finals of the women's recurve individual against world No. 10 Kang Chae-young of South Korea, while Lei Chien-ying will battle Alejandra Valencia Trujillo of Mexico for bronze. The recurve bow is the one used in Olympic competition.
Those showdowns will also be held on Aug. 24.
In the compound bow events, Taiwan's Chen Yi-hsuan will also battle a South Korean, Song Yun-soo, for gold on Wednesday.
While the archers have put themselves in position to win medals, there was disappointment in taekwondo on Tuesday.
Huang Yu-jen, a silver medalist at the 2017 World Championships in South Korea in June, fell in the men's under-68 kg division to Russian Boris Krasnov, who finished second at the European under 21 taekwondo championships in April 2017.
Chen Yu-chuang lost a close battle in the quarterfinals of the women's under-57 kg division to 2017 World Champion Lee Ah-reum of South Korea, 9-8, after taking a 8-6 lead early in the final round.
Lee then advanced to the finals to set up a repeat of the 2017 World Championships gold medal bout against Hatice Kubra Ilgun of Turkey.
