Taiwanese long jumper Lin Yu-tang (???) on Sunday won gold with a jump of 8.02 meters at the biannual Asian Indoor Athletics Championships.

Lin achieved the distance on his third jump, breaking the Republic of China (Taiwan) record for the men's indoor long jump.

Lin later said he found it hard to warm up and had difficulty acclimatizing to the climate in the Kazakh capital Astana, where the championships were held from Feb.10-12.

"I took a while to warm up," Lin said. "At first I couldn't get into the zone, but by the second and third jumps I was ready to break my record."

Lin added that he then lost his tempo again, which stopped him from improving the record even further, but was delighted to have won the gold medal.

This was only the second gold medal Taiwan has ever won at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships, with the first going to Taiwanese pole vaulter Hsieh Chia-han (???) in 2014 with a jump of 5.15 meters.

Other than Lin, local long jumper Wen Hua-yu (???) also performed well at the event, finishing just outside the medals in fourth, with a jump of 7.82 meters.

The other Taiwanese athletes at the championships are triple jumper Li Yun-chen (???) and hurdler Chen Kuei-ru (???), who make up Taiwan's four-person team in Astana, along with coaches and a physical therapist.

On Saturday, Li broke the national record for the men's indoor triple jump with 16.28 meters, but only placed sixth in the final.

Meanwhile, Chen on Saturday advanced to the final of the men's 60-meter sprint hurdles, and will take the stage at 9 p.m. Sunday to vie for a medal against seven other competitors.

The 10th Asian Indoor Athletics Championships followed the 8th edition in 2018, after the 9th edition scheduled for 2020 in Hangzhou, China was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel