HONG KONG -- Taiwan's women's table tennis team won its first game in the team competition at the 2009 East Asian Games (EAG) in Hong Kong Wednesday, after the men's table tennis team and the women's basketball team lost their games that same day. Taiwan's women beat South Korea 3-2 in the Group B competition and was set to face Hong Kong the following day.
The victory over South Korea was not expected to be easy. Hsu Jung-chan, the team's head coach, said earlier that South Korea had a strong team and that he was not optimistic about the first game because three of the Taiwanese players had begun to suffer cold symptoms.
Earlier in the day, the men's table tennis team lost to South Korea 1-3 in the Group B competition.
Six teams are competing in the women's and men's table tennis competition, with Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong in the same group.
The men's loss means that Taiwan will have a tough job becoming one of the top four teams to make the finals.
In women's basketball, Taiwan lost to China 61-69 in the preliminary round, a loss that was attributed in part to the lower average height of the Taiwanese players — 10 centimeters shorter than the Chinese team. Taiwan scored only 23 rebounds, less than half of China's 47 rebounds, which sealed their defeat.
The Fifth East Asian Games, which began that same day, will run through Dec. 13. Its official opening ceremony will be held Dec. 5.
Around 2,300 athletes from Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, China, Hong Kong, Macau, Mongolia and Guam will compete in 262 events encompassing 22 sports, making it the largest international multi-sport event ever held in Hong Kong.
Taiwanese athletes will compete in a record 20 sports, according to Thomas Tsai, president of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee.
In the 2005 Macau EAG, Taiwan competed in 17 sports and came home with 12 gold medals, 34 silvers and 26 bronzes.
Source: chinapost.com.tw/
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