Taiwan's mixed doubles duo win World Table Tennis Championships bronze

Taipei, Nov. 29 (CNA) Taiwan's table tennis players Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) and Cheng I-ching (鄭怡靜) secured a bronze medal in the mixed doubles at the World Table Tennis Championships in Houston Sunday after losing to their Chinese opponents 1-3 in the semifinals.

The Taiwanese duo lost to Wang Chuqin (王楚欽) and Sun Yingsha (孫穎莎) 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 9-11, dashing their hopes of competing for the gold medal.

In the first game, Lin and Cheng established an 8-6 lead, but gave away five straight points to lose the opening game due to unforced errors.

However, they successfully regrouped to take the second game 11-7.

The Chinese pair ran away with the third game, quickly establishing a seemingly unassailable 10-2 lead and despite winning the next five points the Taiwanese duo had left themselves too much to do and lost the game 7-11. The fourth game was closer but the Taiwanese pairing fell just short, losing the match 1-3.

As there is no match for third place at the tournament, Lin and Cheng are assured of a bronze medal following the defeat, as are the other losing semifinalists.

The Taiwanese pair, who also won bronze in the mixed doubles at the Tokyo Olympics this summer, faced Wang and Sun for the first time.

The World Table Tennis Championships is being held from Nov. 23-29.