The Taiwan Celts hosted St. Patrick’s Day Gaelic football tournament at Banqiao Stadium

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/03/20 18:38
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — To celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, the Songshan Crokes croaked

against the Guting Wolftones in the men’s division, and the Da’an Kickems kicked around the Xindian Gaels in the women’s division of Saturday’s Gaelic Football Tournament at the Banqiao Stadium in New Taipei.

The tournament, hosted by the Taiwan Celts Gaelic Athletic Association, consisted of 8 teams, 4 women’s and 4 men’s, who hailed from different parts of the greater Taipei area.

Gaelic football is a sport that originated in Ireland and has an interesting set of rules that resembles a combination of soccer, rugby, basketball, and volleyball. Players run while carrying a ball in their hands (like rugby) for four steps before they must bounce the ball (like basketball), kick the ball (like soccer) to shoot or keep moving, or pass the ball by punching it with their hand (like volleyball).    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/19
By: Tyson Lu and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, March 19 (CNA) A Swiss man and a Chilean woman won the men’s and

women’s professional titles, respectively, in the 2017 Ironman 70.3 Taiwan triathlon competition that took place Sunday in the southeastern county of Taitung.

Ruedi Wild of Switzerland and Barbara Riveros of Chile took the titles with finishing times of 3 hours, 42 minutes and 54 seconds, and 4:13:21, respectively.

The Ironman 70.3 — 70.3 miles equals 113 kilometers — is a race consisting of three events combined into one big endurance challenge: a 1.9-km swim, a 90-km bicycle ride and a 21.1-km run.

In the men’s pro event, Timothy O’Donnell of the United States came in second place with a time of 3:45:30, and Switzerland’s Sven Riederer placed third with 3:49:08.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2017/03/19
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)–Kenyan runner Kipkogei Yego wins this year’s Wan Jin Shi

Marathon, Taiwan’s only International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) accredited marathon, with 2:17:02, beating the second place finisher, Ethiopian Debele Belda, by two seconds.

The marathon started at 6:30 a.m. on Sunday after New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu and other guests fired the starting gun. Chu said that he hoped the event, which is an IAAF Bronze Label Road Race, will gain the the sports organization’s Silver Label certification after this year’s race.

A total of 12,000 runners participated in the marathon.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/19
By: Lee Chin-wei and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, March 19 (CNA) Taiwan’s tennis player Chan Yung-jan (詹詠然) and former world No.6 seed Martina Hingis claimed the 2017 BNP Paribas Open women’s doubles title Saturday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Chan and Hingis powered their way to the BNP Paribas Open doubles title with a straight sets win over Lucie Hradecka and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic.

Playing in just their third tournament as a team, Chan and Hingis claimed their first title with the victory 7-6(4), 6-2 in an hour and thirty minutes.

“A huge thanks to my partner Latisha (Yung-Jan), we’re playing in our third tournament together and she helped me in the previous two to just believe in myself again,” Hingis said in the trophy presentation.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-03-17

The new head of the sports administration, Lin Te-fu, is seeking to restructure the

training system for Taiwan’s national baseball team.

Lin was speaking on Friday as he took office. He immediately addressed the task of turning round the fortunes of the national baseball team. Taiwan finished bottom of its group in the first round of the 2017 World Baseball Classic. The team lost all three of its pool games against Israel, the Netherlands and South Korea. Taiwan was thus eliminated from the tournament and the performance was hugely disappointing to a nation of baseball fans.

Lin said he has reached an agreement with the CPBL, the country’s top professional baseball league. The league will take charge of the organization and training for future international games. He also said a permanent head coach position would be necessary to allow more time to plan for the roster and training before games.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/15
By: Lee Chin-wei and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, March 15 (CNA) The 2017 World Junior Figure Skating Championship sponsored by the International Skating Union (ISU) kicked off at the Taipei Arena Wednesday, attracting the participation of 184 skaters from 43 ISU member-states.

The men’s and pairs short programs were the two events held on the opening day of the championship, which Taipei is hosting for the first time ever and which will run through March 19.

Taiwan’s Tsao Chih-i (曹志禕) managed to take 20th place in the men’s short program event, despite a fall during his routine. The rank allowed him to advance to the free skating event scheduled for the following day.

At the age of 19, it is Tsao’s last competition as a junior skater.    [FULL  STORY]

‘GROUP OF DEATH’:Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic advanced to the fourth round, from which only one of the superstars at most can continue

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 16, 2017
By Dave Carroll / Staff reporter, with AFP, INDIAN WELLS, California

Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Martina Hingis of Switzerland on Tuesday advanced to

the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California.

The sixth seeds defeated fourth seeds Sania Mirza of India, Hingis’ former partner, and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4 in the quarter-finals in 1 hour, 20 minutes.

Chan and Hingis saved five of 10 break points and converted seven of 14, winning 61 of the 118 points contested to advance to a semi-final against either top seeds and Australian Open champions Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic or unseeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and Kristina Mladenovic of France.

They were due to play their quarter-final yesterday.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/14
By: Tyson Lu and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, March 14 (CNA) The Taitung County government in southeastern Taiwan has

signed an agreement with the World Surf League (WSL) to host the World Men’s and Women’s Longboard Championships for 2017.

Taitung Magistrate Justin Huang (黃健庭), who is currently visiting Australia, sealed the agreement Monday at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast. Taiwan’s Representative to Brisbane Lai Wei-zhong (賴維中) attended the ceremony to witness the signing, according to the county government.

The championships will be held in the Jinzun coastal area from Nov. 23 to Dec. 3., the county government said in a statement released that day.    [FULL  STORY]

CLASH OF THE TITANS:Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal remained on course for a fourth-round showdown when they both won their opening matches in straight sets

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 14, 2017
By: Dave Carroll / Staff reporter, with reuters

Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan and Martina Hingis of Switzerland advanced to the quarter-finals

of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open on Sunday, while French Open champion Garbine Muguruza survived a fright to reach the fourth round of the women’s singles in Indian Wells, California.

Sixth seeds Chan and Hingis defeated Andreja Klepac of Slovenia and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain 6-1, 7-5 in 1 hour, 14 minutes.

The Taiwanese-Swiss duo saved five of seven break points and converted five of 10 to advance to a quarter-final against fourth seeds Sania Mirza of India and Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic.

In the singles, Muguruza got a fright from Kayla Day, but outlasted the precocious American teenager 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the fourth round.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/03/13
By Lee Ching-wei and Lilian Wu

Taipei, March 13 (CNA) Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎), the world’s top woman badminton player, will reduce the number of competitions she participates in, to concentrate on World Superseries Premier tournaments from now on, her father said on Monday.

Tai beat Ratchanok Intanon of Thailand to win the All England Open earlier that day, becoming the first player from Taiwan to make it to the World Superseries Premier tournament.

Tai Nan-kai (戴楠凱) said now that his daughter has secured the No. 1 spot and her points with her rivals have widened after she won an All England Open on Monday, she will cut competitions and focus on the World Superseries Premier.   [FULL  STORY]