20130520 Taiwanese team bags nation’s first archery gold medal

Taiwanese team bags nation’s first archery gold medal

Staff writer, with CNA

Lin Fang-yu, Wu Chia-hung, Tan Ya-ting and coach Ni Ta-chih, left to right, hold up the gold medals they won at the Archery World Cup in Shanghai, China, yesterday.
Photo: CNA, provided by Ni Ta-chih

The Taiwanese recurve women’s team yesterday won the nation’s first gold medal in women’s archery at an international event when they beat the Ukraine yesterday at the Archery World Cup in Shanghai, China.

The team, which consists of Lin Fang-Yu (林芳瑜), 22; Tan Ya-Ting (譚雅婷), 19; and Wu Chia-Hung (吳佳鴻), 17; upset Olympic champions Korea in a dramatic 221-217 victory in the semi-finals on Friday, before going on to defeat Ukraine 213-193 in yesterday’s final.

Together with Kuo Chen-wei (郭振維), Tan won a mixed doubles gold in the discipline at the same competition last year.

Wu Sheng-chien, president of World Archery Chinese Taipei — the nation’s archery association — said that this was a significant victory because it marked “the first time that the Taiwanese women’s team has won a gold medal in an international competition.”

Tan, who also represented Taiwan in the London Olympics last year, later competed for the bronze in the individual recurve competition, but lost to Joo Hyun-jung of Korea.

In the London Olympics, she made it to the final 16, where she was defeated by Pia Lionetti of Italy 6-2.

Tan also shot 337 points at 70m at a recent competition in Yilan County, breaking the 335 point record set by Lei Chien-ying (雷千瑩) in 2010.