Taipei: Taiwanese gymnasts clinched two gold medals and one bronze in men's events during the F©d©ration Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) World Challenge Cup held in Slovenia over the weekend.
According to Focus Taiwan, Chiou Min-han secured a gold medal in the men's floor exercise on Saturday, marking his first World Challenge Cup final victory in Koper, Slovenia. The 22-year-old gymnast achieved a score of 13.833 with a 5.000 degree of difficulty, surpassing local favorite Anze Hribar, who scored 13.800 after a 0.1-point deduction. Chiou's coach, Huang Po-jui, remarked on his excellent execution and expressed optimism about Chiou's potential to win more medals for Taiwan in artistic gymnastics.
Chiou has also qualified to represent Taiwan at the 2025 FISU World University Games in Germany this July, following his success at the National Intercollegiate Athletic Games, where he won two silver medals in the all-around and vault, and two bronzes. In Koper, Chiou also made it to the finals in the men's horizontal bar and vault, finishing seventh in the vault with an average score of 13.266.
Tseng Wei-sheng, a 26-year-old Taiwanese gymnast, claimed gold in the vault event on Sunday with a score of 13.883, executing jumps with degrees of difficulty of 5.2. Tseng impressed spectators with his rare vault choices, continuing the momentum from his previous gold-medal performance at the World Challenge Cup opener in Varna, Bulgaria. Tseng's coach, Lin Yu-hsin, noted the six months of training leading to this achievement and plans to work on refining Tseng's techniques for consistent and clean landings.
Additionally, Wang Yi-hsiang earned a bronze medal in the men's rings on Saturday, scoring 13.433 with a 5.3 degree of difficulty. Turkish gymnasts Ibrahim Colak and Yunus Gundogdu took the gold and silver, respectively. Wang, who shifted his focus away from the floor exercise and vault following two knee surgeries, celebrated his first gold medal in the men's rings at the National Intercollegiate Athletic Games earlier this month.