PARIS (TVBS News)—Team Taiwan's athletes started strong at the Paris Olympics in several sports on Saturday (July 27), setting the stage for potential medals in the games ahead.
Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) and Chen Szu-yu (陳思羽) won the table tennis mixed doubles round of 16 match against France's Alexis Lebrun and Yuan Jianan and will face China's Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha.
On the badminton court, Tokyo 2020 gold medallists Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and Lee Yang (李洋) secured their first win against Japan and will compete with Denmark next.
"It'd be a lie to say there's no pressure, but whoever stands on the court is representing their country and wants to win a medal for their country," Lee said.
Turning to artistic gymnastics, Tang Chia-hung (唐嘉鴻), known as the “King of Cats,” ranked second at the men's horizontal bar qualifiers with a score of 14.933, securing a spot in the finals.
In boxing, Huang Hsiao-wen (黃筱雯), who won Taiwan's first Olympic boxing medal at the Tokyo Olympics, defeated Montenegro's Bojana Gojkovic, and Wu Shih-yi (吳詩儀) won against South Korea's Oh Yeon-ji, advancing to the next rounds.
However, in the highly anticipated judo events, Lin Chen-hao (林真豪) and Yang Yung-wei (楊勇緯) failed to advance, with Yang losing in the repechage round to Japan's Ryuju Nagayama.
"It's a pity that his opponent got the chance to defeat him. I thought that after playing against him (Ryuju Nagayama) many times, he would secure victory," Liu Wen-teng, Yang's coach, said.
Canoeist Chang Chu-han (張筑涵) made an error in her second run of the women's K1 slalom, finishing 23rd and missing the cut.
In the 10m Air Pistol Women qualifiers, Liu Heng-yu (劉恆妤) and Yu Ai-wen (余艾玟) did not advance to the finals.
Despite some setbacks, the remaining athletes are poised to bring home more victories and make Taiwan proud with their determination and skill.
