Top seed Chinese Taipei edged Uzbekistan 2-1 to claim the men's team tennis gold at the Guangzhou Asian Games on Tuesday.(Photo: ChinaTaiwan)
GUANGZHOU, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Top seed Chinese Taipei edged Uzbekistan 2-1 to claim the men's team tennis gold at the Guangzhou Asian Games on Tuesday, surmounting the shadow casted by top favourite Lu Yen Hsun's quit for waist injury.
The two finalists levelled 1-1 after the two singles of the team events on Tuesday morning, leaving the final doubles to tell who is the final champion.
Teenagers Yang Tsung-Hua and Yi Chu-Huan carried on their dominance in Monday's semifinals, and defeated Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, currently world number 40, and his pair Murad Inoyatov 6-3, 6-4.
The Chinese Taipei duo, taking a lead right after the openings, broke two serves of their rivals against them in the second set, fired four aces in their victory lasting less than 70 minutes.
"It's just a perfect show," said Chinese Taipei coach Ho Kua-Lung after the match. "We have longed for this gold for years, and today we made our dream come true."
The early exit of Lu Yen Hsun, who quit with a waist injury on Monday, was a heavy blow to the Chinese Taipei's dream for the gold.
The Chinese Taipei men's team, therefore, had struggled over the semifinals with India and made its way into the final with 2-1 in the last minute.
"I really regret not being able to fight for my team in the semifinals and final," said Lu, currently world number 35. "But my younger fellows had done very good job in the competitions, and we are so glad to take the gold."
His compatriot Yang Tsung-Hua, besides victory in the doubles with Yi Chu-Huan, also participated in one of the two singles, in which he lost 6-4, 6-0 to Uzbekistan's top favourite Denis Istomin.
"To play doubles right after the singles was a tough challenge for me," said Yang, adding he had to get over fatigue and fight until the last minute. "But it is worthwhile," he added. "Team event is quite different from the singles or doubles, we love to devote our efforts to the team scores."
In another singles, Chinese Taipei's Chen Di smashed Murad Inoyatov 6-2, 6-4.
It is the first time the Chinese Taipei has climbed atop the Asiad men's team tennis, with a previous best of bronze medallist in the event.
"Actually the gold in men's team tennis is beyond our expectation. Thus we have set a new record in the history of our men's tennis," said coach of Chinese Taipei Ho Kua-Lung.
On the other side of the bracket, defending champion Chinese Taipei women's team lost to Chinese "Golden Flowers", settled for a silver.
The tennis events of Guangzhou Asian Games are scheduled from Nov. 13-23, with athletes competing for seven gold medals of men's and women's singles, doubles, teams and mix doubles. |
