Taiwan's Lee Chih-kai wins bronze at Asian Gymnastics Championships

Taipei, June 21 (CNA) Lee Chih-kai (李智凱) ended a two-year medal drought in international competition with bronze in the pommel horse final at the Asian Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in Zunyi, China, on Saturday.

The 30-year-old, known in Taiwan as the "pommel horse prince," scored 14.133 points to claim his first career pommel horse medal at the Asian Championships.

Uzbekistan's Utkirbek Juraev won gold, while China's Zhang Boheng (張博恆) took silver.

Speaking to CNA, Lee said he was especially moved that his first single-event medal at the Asian Championships came in the event with which he is most closely associated.

The competition marked Lee's fifth appearance at the Asian Championships. His previous medals at the event came in 2019, when he won gold in the individual all-around and bronze in the team all-around.

Lee made history at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics by winning Taiwan's first-ever Olympic gymnastics medal, taking silver in the pommel horse. He later captured a second consecutive Asian Games gold in the event at the 2022 Hangzhou Asian Games.

However, he failed to qualify for the Paris Olympics and subsequently battled injuries. Changes to the international scoring code for the 2025-2028 cycle have also limited the use of the Thomas Flair, one of his signature moves.

Reflecting on the two-year gap between medals, Lee noted that he had also gone through a difficult period in 2015 and 2016.

"I didn't give up then," he said. "I kept adjusting, training and identifying problems before finally breaking through at the 2017 Taipei Universiade."

Facing similar challenges a decade later, Lee said he again refused to give up, learning from mistakes and overcoming injuries to return to the podium.

Lee added that the past two years had not been wasted, as he used the time to adapt to the new scoring system.

Although the revised rules have restricted the Thomas Flair, he said they "cannot limit my motivation to win medals."

He was also pleased that Taiwan finished fifth in the team competition, securing a berth at the World Championships in October.

Lee said he and Olympic bronze medalist Tang Chia-hung (唐嘉鴻) have sought to act as mentors for younger members of the national team.

Speaking to CNA on Saturday, Lee's coach Lin Yu-hsin (林育信) said he was delighted to see Lee return to the podium after two years of setbacks.

Lin said the medal should give Lee greater confidence as he targets a third Asian Games pommel horse gold at the Nagoya Asian Games in the coming fall, while also setting his sights on the World Championships and the Los Angeles Olympics.