UNIVERSIADE/Taiwan wins 3 silvers at World University Games

Taipei, July 21 (CNA) Taiwan won three silver medals at the World University Games in Germany on Sunday, finishing second in the badminton mixed team event, taekwondo and swimming.

In the best-of-five badminton final against China, Taiwanese shuttlers Chen Zhi-ray (陳子睿) and Lin Yu-chieh (林煜傑) lost 13-15, 10-15 to Cui Hechen (崔赫宸) and Peng Jianqin (彭建欽), giving China a 1-0 lead.

Wang Pei-yu (王珮伃) then lost 12-15, 15-12, 7-15 to Yuan Anqi (袁安琪) in the singles match, putting Taiwan behind 0-2.

The gap was closed to 1-2 after Su Li-yang (蘇力揚) won the third match, but China went on to seal the victory 3-1.

Team coach Feng Sheng-chieh (馮勝杰) said the opening match was the most crucial and expressed regret that the team did not win gold.

Taiwan won gold in the badminton mixed team event at the 2017 Taipei Universiade and defended its title in 2019 at the university games in Naples, Italy. The team struck gold again at the 2021 Chengdu Universiade.

Hung Jiun-yi (洪俊義), a first-time World University Games participant and student at National Changhua University of Education, took silver after losing 1-2 to South Korea's Seo Geonwoo in the men's 80kg taekwondo final.

Meanwhile, Wang Kuan-hung (王冠閎) won silver in the men's 200-meter butterfly on Sunday, finishing in 1:55.85 -- just 0.26 seconds behind gold medalist Jack Andrew Dahlgren of the United States.

Speaking after the tournament, Wang said his strong desire to win Taiwan's first-ever swimming gold at the University Games left him dissatisfied with his final performance. "My goal was gold," he said, "but I'm still happy to earn a spot on the podium."