Hsiao Mei-yu wins women's road race in Asian Games
Chinese Taipei won the final gold medal at stake in the 2010 Asian Games cycling competition on Tuesday 23 November.
Hsiao Mei-yu topped the women’s road race to become the first Taiwanese rider to win a medal in the Asian Games road cycling event.
The Taiwanese finished the gruelling five-lap 100km race in two hours, 47 minutes and 46.12 seconds.
"I’m too excited to say anything. I didn’t expect to win a medal, I thought I’d just be in the top 10," Hsiao said.
It was Hsiao's second medal in the Guangzhou meet after earlier claiming a bronze in the women's 500m time trial in the track events.
Indonesia’s Santia Tri Kusuma crossed the finish line just behind Hsiao in 2:47:46.52 to claim the silver.
Despite settling for the silver, Kusuma said she is happy to win a medal in Guangzhou.
"This is a birthday gift for my husband (Indonesian cyclist Rochmat Nugraha), which will fall tomorrow," the 29-year-old told the
Jakarta Post.
"I am very happy because this event is not my favourite, I was expected to win a medal in track but I failed. So it is kind of a revenge for me. Moreover, it was quite hard for me to pull out of the pack
and only at the last 300 metres I was able to sprint."
China’s Zhao Na settled for the bronze with a time of 2:47:46.63.
Natalya Stefanskaya of Kazakhstan finished fourth in 2:47:46.83. She was followed by South Koreans You Ji-na (2:47:46.86) and Na Ah-reum (2:47:46.99).
Rounding out the top ten were Thailand's Jutatip Maneephan (2:47:47.10), Vietnam's Pham Thi Thuy Lien (2:47:47.99), Indonesian Yanthi Fuchianty (2:47:48.35) and Vietnam's Phan Thi Thuy Trang (2:47:48.36).
Host China topped the medal table after winning seven golds, four silvers and eight bronze medals. Chinese riders bagged five golds in the track events and one each in the mountain bike and BMX disciplines.
Zhang Lei won a gold medal in the men's sprint and joined forces with Zhang Miao and Cheng Changsong to win the team sprint title. Guo Shuang topped the women's sprint and settled for the silver in the
women's 500m time trial.
Hong Kong finished second with a 4-4-1 medal haul. South Korea placed third with a 4-1-0 harvest followed by Chinese Taipei (1-0-1).
Other countries that won medals were Malaysia (1-1-0), Uzbekistan (1-0-0), Japan (0-6-3), Indonesia (0-1-0), Kyrgyzstan (0-1-0), Iran (0-0-3) and Thailand (0-0-2).
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