Asian Games end, Taiwan win only five gold medals

The Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games yesterday wrapped up its final day of events, with Taiwan taking home only five gold medals, its lowest total since the 1990 games in Beijing.

Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, also won 17 silvers and 33 bronzes to finish with a total of 55 medals.

While the total medal count was only slightly lower than in previous Asian Games — it won 67 in the 2022 and 2018 editions — the five golds were Taiwan’s fewest since the 1990 games in Beijing, when it won none.

Photo: Reuters

It was also a steep decline from the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games, when Taiwan tied its best-ever performance with 19 golds.

Taiwan’s five gold medals included Yu Kai-wen and Huang Shih-yuan’s win in soft tennis mixed doubles, as well as swimmer Wang Kuan-hung’s first-place finish in the men’s 200m butterfly.

In the high jump, 23-year-old Fu Chao-hsuan cleared 2.25m to win Taiwan’s first men’s gold in a track and field athletics event in 60 years.

Meanwhile, Olympic champion Lin Yu-ting won her second consecutive Asian Games boxing gold medal by defeating her Chinese opponent in a unanimous 5-0 decision in the women’s 60kg final.

In tennis, Taiwanese duo Hsieh Su-wei and Liang En-shuo defeated compatriots Chan Hao-ching and Wu Fang-hsien 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 in the finals of the women’s doubles event on Saturday, giving Taiwan a gold-silver sweep.

The Asian Games took place in Japan from Sept. 19 to yesterday. Taiwan sent 482 athletes to compete in 34 sports.