Photo courtesy of Chinese Taipei Athletics Association

Taipei, July 22 (CNA) Taiwanese javelin thrower Cheng Chao-tsun (鄭兆村) on Saturday beat his own record this year with a throw of 84.60 meters at the Gotas Ungdomsspel (Youth Games)in Sweden, scoring the second best performance in Asia this year.

Cheng, 24, is gearing up for the Asian Games, which will begin August 18 in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang.

His performance in Sweden will qualify him for the IAAF Continental Cup, a quadrennial track and field competition that will be held in September in the Czech Republic, once he can remain in the top two in the Asian records until July 31.

Last year, Cheng set a new Asian record with a throw of 91.36 meters on his way to winning a gold medal at the Universiade in Taipei.

The IAAF Continental Cup competition invites the top two athletes in each sport from Africa, the Americas, Asia/Pacific and Europe to compete in the tournament.

Taiwanese shot putter Chang Ming-huang (張銘煌) had qualified for the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup, but he declined the invitation to focus on Asian Games.

Chang was the only Taiwanese athlete invited to compete in the IAAF Continental Cup in recent history.

(By Lee Chin-wei and Shih Hsiu-chuan)
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