Taiwan wins 5th gold at World Games as Paiwan strongman breaks world record

Taipei, Aug. 17 (CNA) Taiwanese powerlifter Yang Sen (楊森) on Sunday won a fifth gold medal for Taiwan at the 2025 World Games in Chengdu, China, after setting a world record for equipped squat with a 453.5 kilogram lift.

Yang, who is of Indigenous Paiwan descent, won the gold medal in the men's equipped super heavyweight category with a total of 1,118.5 kilograms in his squat, bench press and deadlift, pulling 332.5 kg in each of the latter two. His squat broke his own world record by 0.5 kg.

He finished the event with 108.90 points in total, which put him ahead of the other seven competitors in the weight class. His gold medal was the fifth for Taiwan at the Games.

Yang had qualified for the 12th edition of the quadrennial World Games after winning the 2024 World Open Equipped Powerlifting Championships in Iceland, where he established a new equipped squat world record of 453 kg.

Two golds in one day

Earlier Sunday, Taiwan clinched its fourth gold at the 2025 World Games, after winning the beach team mixed korfball event 8-6 against the Netherlands in a dramatic finish.

The Taiwan team comprised male players Huang Ying-ting (黃英庭), Chang Chia-chuan (張家銓), and Wang Ming-kai(王銘凱) and female athletes Chu Shu-ping (曲書平), Wu Jia-yi (巫佳宜), and Wang Yi-wen (王怡文). Beach team mixed korfball matches are typically played by four team members on each side -- two males and two females -- with substitutions being made at intervals.

Going into the final game against the Netherlands on Sunday, Taiwan was down 0-4 but rallied to stand 3-5 by the end of the first half.

Nine seconds into the second half, Chang made a two-point shot to tie the score 5-5, but three minutes later the Netherlands took the lead again 5-6.

With 1 minute and 40 seconds left on the clock, Wu tied the game again with a penalty shot, bring the score to 6-6.

Just as it seemed that the game would go into overtime, Huang made a two-point far-shot for Taiwan, pumping the score to 8-6, with four seconds left on the clock.

It was Huang's second star play of the day, as he had also scored during the golden goal period in a semifinal match against Belgium earlier in the day, to give Taiwan an 8-7 win that propelled the team into the finals.