Chinese Taipei names team for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

Tang Chih-Chun, Wei Chun-Heng, Deng Yu-Cheng, Lin Chia-En and Tan Ya-Ting will join reigning World Archery Champion Lei Chien-Ying as Chinese Taipei’s archery team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

“We’re a good team and have great teamwork,” said 18-year-old Chih-Chun. “I was at the world championships with my two senior teammates, our chemistry is really strong and we are looking forward to competing at the Olympics.”

Taipei was one of four nations to secure the full six-athlete quota at last year’s world championships alongside Korea, China and Great Britain.

Lei went on to become Chinese Taipei’s first-ever individual gold medallist at the worlds. She was subsequently named as the first member of the squad for Tokyo.

The remaining five places were contested across three selection stages held in December 2019 and January 2020.

Tang Chih-Chun and Lin Chia-En emerged top from those trials.

“It’s self-affirmative for me to make the Olympic team. It feels like a breakthrough and confirmation at the senior level,” said Chih-Chun, who finished ninth at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aries in 2018.

“The format is similar but the competition is different. During the Youth Olympics, I wasn’t in good condition. Since then, I’ve been training harder to get better.”

Having won team bronze at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games with Lin Shih-Chia, Lin Chia-En returns to the roster for Tokyo.

Chia-En, Tan Ya-Ting and Lei Chien-Ying is the same line-up that Chinese Taipei deployed at the Olympic Games in 2012, where they came fifth in the team event.

The women have five Olympic caps between them. The men’s team has one – Wei Chung-Heng, who suffered a disappointing second-round shoot-off loss to finish 17th in Brazil four years ago.

Taipei has won three archery medals in the history of the Games – one silver and two bronze – all in team events.

Thanks to Chen Ting-Ni.

The archery competitions at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games begin on 24 July.