Taiwanese female hurdlers win gold at Asian U23 athletics meet

Taipei, July 12 (CNA) Two Taiwanese athletes took gold in women's hurdle events at the inaugural 2026 Asian U23 Athletics Championships in China on Saturday.

Chung Hsin-ju (鍾欣儒) first secured the gold in the women's 400m hurdles followed by Yi Po-an (易柏安) taking gold in the women's 100m hurdles.

Chung set her personal best in the women's 400m hurdles with a time of 57.41 seconds, beating Nurkhon Ochilova of Uzbekistan (57.99) and Shravani Sachin Sangle of India (58.09).

Meanwhile, Yi won a tight women's 100m hurdles with a time of 13.28 seconds, edging out Japan's Ami Takahashi (13.31) and China's Wu Anqi (吳安琪) (13.34).

Both hurdlers are having a good season so far and have qualified for the 2026 Asian Games, to be held in Nagoya, Japan, in September.

Besides Chung and Yi, female shot-putter Chiang Ching-yuan (江靜緣) also secured a silver medal for Taiwan on Saturday, ending the day's haul for Taiwan at two golds and one silver.

Chiang, whose best throw traveled 16.82m on her second attempt, had the lead in the event through five rounds before Ding Zhuhui of China catapulted above Chiang with a throw of 17.15m on her sixth and final attempt.

Created in 2026, the biennial Asian U23 Athletics Championships are being held in Ordos City in Inner Mongolia, China, from July 9 to 12.