"Snooker" has been in desperate situations and defeated opponents who have never won before. Chen Minxin's miracle of winning gold at the Youth Olympics

Chen Yanxin defeated Singaporean teenager Liming Ying and won the women's singles gold medal at the Youth Olympic Games in Dhaka. (provided by the delegation)

[Reporter Xu Mingli/Exclusive Interview] 17-year-old Tainan teenager Chen Yixin defeated Singaporean female player Liming Ying 4:2 in the women's singles final of the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dhaka. She won the first Youth Olympic table tennis gold medal in history for the Taiwan delegation, creating a new page in Taiwan's table tennis world. She said, "I have prepared for this Youth Olympics for a long time and worked hard for a long time. Being able to seize the opportunity to win the gold medal in this highest youth level event is also an affirmation of myself."

Chen Yanxin said, "I am very happy to win the gold medal. My goal before starting this Youth Olympic Games is the gold medal. I will try my best to fight for it if I have the chance!" However, looking back on this journey to win the gold medal, it was not all smooth sailing. In the second match of the women's singles group stage, Chen Yanxin unexpectedly lost to Austria's Silk Binz 10:12, 10:12, 9:11. She suffered her first defeat and fell into a desperate situation where she could only win but not lose in the last round of the group stage. She said that her opponent played really well in that game, and there were a lot of lucky shots, so she advanced to second place in the group. She also knew that the first round after entering the top 16 would be a tough battle.

Sure enough, in the top 16, Chen Yanxin faced Yao Ruixuan, the Chinese female player who has the highest claim to win the gold medal. Chen Yanxin had not won the two matches in the past three times. She said, "Because I have never won before, I really don't have the confidence. I just have the mentality of preparing myself to fight her." In the end, Chen Yanxin won the first match with 3:2. She believed that the key to winning was her decisiveness in the first three boards.

In the quarter-finals, she faced the German teenager Shinharu Itagaki, who won the U15 women's singles championship at the World Youth Championship last year. This was the first time the two met against Itagaki. Facing Itagaki with a granular backhand style, Chen Yanxin suppressed her opponent all the way and easily passed with a straight four. She said, "My opponent is not very good at picking up my serve, so it is relatively easy to hit."

Yesterday, in the semi-finals, they swept the 13-year-old Japanese super star Misora Matsushima, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the U17 world, in straight four games. Chen Yanxin admitted that she was a little surprised, "Because the previous two games against Misora were very close, and I was prepared for the difficulties. It was difficult to prepare. I didn’t expect to win 4:0 this time. The main reason was that I was able to get started on the first three boards and was not in a hurry during the stalemate. I played steadily and did not get carried away by my opponent’s fast pace. On the contrary, USA Kong was obviously a little impatient in the last two games.”

In the gold medal match, Lai Ying had a very sharp backhand. Chen Minxin had the last laugh in the three previous encounters between the two sides. However, this time she was defeated by her opponent in the 6th game with a 10:8 draw. Fortunately, she stabilized her position in the end and secured the victory 4:2. She said, "My opponent has really improved a lot and is not easy to fight. If we get to the 7th game, it is really hard to say whether we will win or lose. Fortunately, I have a bite in the end."