Taiwan’s Zheng Zhaocun (鄭兆村 on the left) staged a dramatic comeback Saturday night from trailing behind Germany’s Andreas Hofmann and Taiwan’s Huang Shifeng (黃士峰) to win a gold medal in the men’s javelin at Taipei Universiade.

At his sixth and last try, he secured a throw of 91.36 meters, a new Asian record, breaking the previous record of 89.15 meters set by Chinese athlete in 2014.

Zheng, 23-year-old and a student of Fe Jen Catholic University, also broke the Universiade record of 86.50 meters.

Taiwan’s Huang Shifeng (黃士峰) won bronze in the event with a personal best of 86.64 meters, and Hofmann took silver with a personal best of 91.07 meters.

(The photo shows Zheng running toward Hofmann after making a victorious round at the Taipei Stadium. The two shook hands whole-heartedly.)

Hofmann expressed his jubilation at the press conference after the contest and attributed his best personal performance to the local audiences, saying they not only cheered for Chinese Taipei athletes, but for those from other countries as well.

Taipei Stadium is packed with viewers Saturday night to watch the track and field games. Taiwanese team brought in one gold, one silver (Chen Jie in 400m men’s hurdles) and one bronze during that event, making Chinese Taipei’s total medal to stand at 17 gold, 22 silver and 14 bronze.#

Photos: Jane Lee