Taipei, Dec. 10 (CNA) Taiwan won its first medal at the 2010 Asian Beach Games in Muscat, Oman with a third place finish by Pan Kai-wen in the men's 5-kilometer marathon swimming Friday.
Pan, 21, won a bronze medal, completing the event in one hour and 54.9 seconds, behind Saleh Mohammad of Syria who won in a time of 1: 0: 14.4 and Xu Wenchao of China who finished in second place in 1:0:19.5.
According to the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, Pan's bronze was Taiwan's first medal in long-distance swimming at the Asian Beach Games.
The second edition of the Asian Beach Games is being held in Muscat, Oman from Dec. 8-16, with more than 1,000 athletes from 45 Asian countries participating in 52 categories in 14 sports.
Taiwan sent a team of 38 athletes -- 24 men and 14 women -- to Muscat to compete in beach handball, beach volleyball, beach woodball, marathon swimming, sailing, triathlon and water skiing.
The Asian Beach Games is a biennial multi-sport event regulated by the Olympic Council of Asia. The inaugural games were held in Bali, Indonesia in 2008. (By Chris Wang) enditem /pc