The reigning women's tug of war champion team of Taiwan swept through a strong field to successfully defend its title, by outlasting European powerhouse the Netherlands in the gold medal match to increase the nation's gold medals to five.

Huang took her third gold medal in three days after winning the women's 500-meter roller sports speed event with 47.382 seconds.

She already won a gold medal in the 300-meter event on Friday and the 1,000-meter roller sports speed contest Saturday.

In the men's division, Lo Wei-lin won a silver medal in the 500-meter roller sports speed competition.

Lo reached the finish line first but had to settle with a silver because of a ruling that his hands had touched Colombian rival Felipe Andres Munoz in the process.

He won a gold for Taiwan in the 300-meter event by edging Munoz on Friday.

Tug of War

Taiwan (Chinese Taipei) won its first gold medal in the women's tug of war event staged at the World Games in Duisburg, Germany in 2005.

The tenacious team had no intention of relinquishing its supremacy over the event for which it has become a proud master, as a country not known for its prowess at the highest level of international competition.

Taiwan swept through the preliminary round, defeating the five other countries in the competition -- the Netherlands, South Africa, Great Britain, the Ukraine and Japan -- to comfortably reach the semifinals.

Although Taiwan was more methodical than some of its main rivals, with most of its bouts lasting over one minute, it won all 10 tugs in its five preliminary matches.

In the tug of war competition, each match features two bouts. Teams that win both are credited with a 3-0 win, while splits are scored 1-1. The Taiwanese then defeated Great Britain 3-0 in the semis, winning the two tugs in 1:50 and 1:19 respectively, before finishing off their quest for gold by outclassing the Netherlands in the two tugs in times of 2:05 and 1:38.

Great Britain beat Japan, the 2005 World Games silver medalist, 3-0 to win the bronze.

Taiwan's gold medal achievement, continues the women pullers' record of never having lost a major international competition, following up titles at the 2005 World Games and the 2006 and 2008 World Championships.

Team members attributed their success to long, painstaking and intensive training sessions, the thick calluses on each team member's palms testifying to their dedication and hard preparation.

"It was really an arduous regimen," said 37-year-old captain Cheng Shu-fang in describing the team's last month of training before the World Games, when it did not take a single break.

The next challenge for the Taiwanese women will be the 2010 World Championship to be held in Italy.

Unlike men's tug of war, the women's version puts less emphasis on brawn with a maximum weight of 520 kilograms per team, and requires a more refined technique because it is contested indoors.

When the tug of war is held outdoors, participants dig in their heels and pull back using the full weight of their bodies, but that technique does not work in the indoor event because the pullers can easily slip.

Instead, the pullers try to move back step-by-step to avoid losing their footing.

With five gold medals, four silver medals, and two bronze medals Taiwan kept its second place in terms of gold medals, trailing only Russia.

The total number of 11 medals so far also placed Taiwan at the second spot after Russia.