Taiwan’s Hsieh, Liang claim doubles gold in Games

Taiwanese tennis players Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) and Liang En-shuo (梁恩碩) yesterday won the women’s doubles gold at the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games, securing the nation’s fifth gold medal of the Games. The pair defeated compatriots Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) and Wu Fang-hsien (吳芳嫺) 6-4, 4-6, 10-5 at Higashiyama Park Tennis Center, giving Taiwan a gold-silver sweep in the event. After splitting the opening two sets, the Taiwanese foursome contested a deciding match tiebreak, with Hsieh and Liang emerging victorious after one hour and 59 minutes. Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times Hsieh and Liang won 87 points to their opponents’ 73 and took 59 percent of points played on their first serves, compared with 47 percent for Chan and Wu. Hsieh, 40, was competing at her first Asian Games since Incheon in 2014, where she won women’s team gold and doubles silver. Yesterday’s victory was her third Asian Games gold. Chan had been seeking a second consecutive women’s doubles title after winning with her older sister, Latisha Chan (詹詠然), at the Hangzhou Games in 2023. Hsieh and Liang on Friday defeated Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina and Yulia Putintseva, while Chan and Wu beat Hong Kong’s Eudice Chong and Cody Wong. In golf, Taiwan’s Yani Tseng (曾雅妮), Hsu Wei-ling (徐薇淩) and Chien Pei-yun (錢珮芸) won women’s team bronze with a four-round total of 550 at Kasugai Country Club. China took gold with 538, ahead of India’s 546. Tseng and Chien each shot 68 in the final round, while Hsu carded 69. The team competition counted each country’s two lowest individual scores each day. Tseng yesterday finished tied for ninth individually at 276, recording five birdies and three bogeys. Returning to the Games after 20 years, the 37-year-old said she enjoyed the team atmosphere and appreciated being able to focus on golf with logistical support. In taekwondo, Lin Wei-chun (林唯均) earned her second consecutive Asian Games medal with bronze in the women’s 57kg division. She lost her semi-final to China’s Zhang Chuling (張楚玲), dropping the opening round 2-0, winning the second 8-6 and losing the decider 6-2. Taiwan also won a second consecutive softball bronze, beating the Philippines 12-2 in four innings under the run-ahead rule. Home runs by Lin Feng-chen (林鳳珍), Chen Chia-yi (陳家宜) and Yeh Kuei-ping (葉貴萍) powered the victory. As of press time last night, Taiwan had collected five golds, 17 silvers and 33 bronzes. The Philippine Coast Guard yesterday said it has deployed its largest vessel and an aircraft to challenge a Chinese research ship operating off northern Batanes near Taiwan, adding that a Chinese coast guard vessel had also moved in. The Philippine operation “disrupted the vessel’s unauthorized marine scientific research and compelled it to leave its loitering position,” said Jay Tarriela, Philippine Coast Guard spokesperson on South China Sea issues. The Philippine Coast Guard said the BRP Teresa Magbanua and an aircraft were deployed to counter the Chinese vessel, which it said had remained about 37 nautical miles northwest of Itbayat Island since Monday. The RUNWAY: Analysts said the first aircraft landing is expected by the middle of next year, while Chinese state media said it would serve civilian needs Chinese construction of a runway on Antelope Reef (Lingyang Reef, 羚羊礁) in the Paracel Islands (Xisha Islands, 西沙群島), is well under way with analysts estimating it could be completed by the middle of next year, strengthening Beijing’s military control over the disputed South China Sea. Satellite images reviewed by Reuters show grading work, piles of gravel and concrete, and compaction cranes in operation to build a full-scale runway that military attaches and security analysts say could be one of China’s most important offshore bases in the region. The images, taken on Friday last week by commercial satellite imagery provider Vantor, also show RESILIENCE: Keeping the defense industry’s assembly lines open would prove essential should the nation be involved in a prolonged conflict, a source said The Ministry of National Defense has prepared a NT$22 billion (US$692.3 million) program to acquire about 200 improved Hsiung Feng anti-ship missiles from next year to 2035, a source said. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a high-ranking defense official said the ministry’s plan for enhanced-capability Hsiung Feng II and Hsiung Feng III missiles would be funded as part of the regular defense budget. The 200 missiles would be added on top of the 1,400 missiles being funded via the Sea-Air Combat Power Improvement Plan, they said. The program is not about padding missile numbers, but expanding the capability to defeat DEFENSE: The US House speaker dismissed speculation that Trump is using arms sales as a negotiating tactic with Beijing amid concern over delayed deliveries Taiwan is a partner whose “stability and independence” are important to US national security and the economy, US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson said on Monday when asked about arms sales to Taipei in an interview with Fox Business. Asked whether US President Donald Trump was using a long-delayed US$14 billion arms deal as a negotiating tactic for trade with Beijing, Johnson said that he “wouldn’t read too much into that.” The delayed arms package is “related to the Iran conflict” and the need for missile stocks in the Middle East, he said. “If you look over [Trump’s] two terms, he will