PARALYMPICS/Taiwan secures second Paralympic medal in table tennis

Paris, Aug. 30 (CNA) Team Taiwan will have at least two medals at the Paris Paralympics as its female table tennis duo has advanced to the WD20 class semifinals, after the team won a bronze medal in taekwondo earlier this week.

Lin Tzu-yu (林姿妤) and Tian Shiau-wen (田曉雯) breezed past the Turkish pair of Merve Demir and Neslihan Kavas in the quarterfinals with a 3-0 sweep, taking down the latter 11-7, 11-6, 11-8 in 21 minutes en route to the semifinals.

They will have at least a bronze because there is no third-place playoff for the sport in Paris.

Along with the bronze won by Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Xiao Xiang-wen (蕭翔文) in the men's K44 58-kilogram division on Thursday, Team Taiwan has surpassed its medal haul in the last edition of the Paralympics in Tokyo, where it secured only one bronze in women's singles class 10 from Tian.

Tian and Lin, an Asian Para Games champion in women's singles class 10 in 2023, entered the event as the top seeds and received a bye in the first round.

However, the two revealed that they had been under great pressure before Friday's match.

"The first match is always tougher for us," said Tian, who thought the uncertainty of the atmosphere and their condition made it hard for them to relax.

Lin shared the same sentiment and admitted that she felt her body a bit stiff, but said their frequent communication helped them adjust during the match.

Their coach, Wang Ming-yueh (王明月), who witnessed the duo's stress, told CNA that the team did a great job in scouting, and executed their planned tactics well.

The two will vie for the final berth with Natalia Partyka and Karolina Pek of Poland on Saturday.