Tennis success continues for Taiwan
Beijing (AFP) - Taiwan struck gold for the third time in the tennis events at the East Asian Games Saturday, but China remained the dominating force in the overall medals table.
Lee Hsin-Han and Chan Hao-Ching claimed victory in the mixed doubles tennis competition, completing a hat-trick of tennis golds for Taiwan with three having been contested.
It is the second gold for both Lee and Chan, who earlier this week claimed victory in the men's and women's "team" event, in which teams of four players compete against each other.
The men's and women's singles and doubles are left to be contested at the Games, which are being held in the northern port city of Tianjin.
Despite the heroics of the Taiwanese tennis team, the hosts continued to dominate in the overall medals table.
By the end of competition Saturday, China had an impressive 96 golds, nearly four times the 25 won by second-placed South Korea. Japan was third with 23.
But the South Korean fencers had proved to be more than a match for the Chinese, topping the event medals table with six golds.
The fencing event finished on Saturday, with China claiming its fifth and final gold in the women's team epee event.
The Hong Kong men's team foil fencers took the last remaining fencing gold to be contested.
This year's East Asia Games features more than 2,400 athletes from China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Mongolia, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau and Guam, competing in 24 different sports.
It is the last time the East Asian Games will be held in their current form, the state news agency Xinhua reported, with the event due to be transformed into a youth games for athletes aged 14 to 18.
