Taipei, Oct. 6 (CNA) The Taiwan men's team competing for the first time in kabaddi, a contact team sport originating from India, won a bronze medal on Friday at the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China.
The Taiwan team took bronze after suffering a defeat from team Iran, which not only has a long history with the sport but was also the gold medal winner in 2018 at the Jakarta Asian Games in Indonesia.
In the first half of the match, Taiwan fell behind Iran 7-25.
By the conclusion of the match, the score between the two teams landed at 24-47, with Iran scheduled to vie for the gold against India on Saturday.
Taiwan shares the bronze medal with Pakistan, which lost to India on Friday 14-61.
The 2023 Asian Games is the first time Taiwan has sent a men's delegation to the kabaddi, while the women's team participated in 2014 and took home a bronze medal in 2018.
Although the Taiwan men's first foray to the sport ended with a bronze medal after losing to Iran, the women's team, conversely, defeated their Iranian opponents Friday to enter the finals scheduled for Saturday against India.
Much like their male counterparts, the women's Iranian delegation was also the gold medal winner of the 2018 Asian Games.
"We've been called a team made up of athletes that are unwanted by other disciplines," Taiwan's women team coach Tsai Wei-yang (蔡威暘) said. "All the sacrifices are now worth it."
