Taipei Times
Date: Jan 01, 2017
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Sports Administration officials on Friday touted a bright future for the nation’s soccer development at the

official launch of the Taiwan Premier Football League (TPFL), with the inaugural season consisting of competitions between eight clubs to begin this month.

Coaches and players from the eight teams, as well as administration officials and corporate sponsors, were on hand at the unveiling of the TPFL logo at the event.

The ball starts rolling on Saturday with the TPFL opener in Kaohsiung, with subsequent matches on weekends and Wednesdays, in which teams are to compete over four rounds in each half of the season.

Play is to follow a home-and-away format, with 28 games for each club, culminating at the season’s end with a playoff series in October to determine the champions, Chinese Taipei Football Association president Lin Yung-cheng said.   [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: December 29, 2016
By: By Joseph Yeh, The China Post

Taiwanese baseball player Yang Dai-kang (陽岱鋼) on Wednesday pledged to do his best to usher the

Yomiuri Giants to another championship title, after signing a five-year-contract with the Tokyo-based team last week.

In his first public appearance in Taiwan since the deal was announced on Dec. 19, Yang told reporters that helping his new team clinch the Japanese pro league title would be his top priority next season.

“I am honored to join a team with such a strong tradition and am ready to help it win another championship title,” Yang said, while Giants General Manager Tatsuyoshi Tsutsumi stood at his side.

Twenty-nine-year-old Yang played as a Nippon Ham Fighters outfielder for 11 years before he declared himself a free agent in November.

Yang, known as Yoh Daikan in Japan, said he had talked with three teams over the past month and ultimately decided to accept the Giants’ offer.

“I joined the Giants because Tsutsumi told me, ‘We want to win the championship and we cannot do this without you,'” he said.

The Giants, formed in 1934, are the oldest team in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball Organization.

They are also the most successful team and have won the Japan Series 22 times, most recently in 2012.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News
Date: 2016/12/21
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

Organizers of the WTA Taiwan Open 2017 announced Wednesday a roster of 23

players in the singles main draw, with 21 of them ranked in the world’s top 100.

The organizers said the 21 players in the top 100 include former world number one Jelena Jankovic, a Serbian player who is now ranked 54.

Local player Lee Ya-hsuan was awarded a wildcard for the main draw.

Lee said she is very happy to have the chance to participate in world-class professional tennis and play in her homeland at the Taiwan Open, adding that she will sharpen her playing skills as well as mental strength in the run-up to the event as “all the other players in the roster are very strong.”   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/12/19
By: Yang Ming-chu and Ko Lin

Tokyo, Dec. 15 (CNA) Taiwanese baseball player Yoh Daikan (陽岱鋼) posed in the No. 2 jersey during a press conference at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo on Monday, held to officially announce his signing by the Yomiuri Giants.

According to Japanese media, Yoh signed a five-year deal with the Giants worth 1.5 billion yen (US$12.74 million). The deal puts him alongside former Japanese legends Katsumi Hirosawa (廣澤克己) and Kazuhiro Kiyohara (清原和博) as securing the longest contract ever by a free agent in Japan.

During the press conference, Yoh said he was thrilled to be playing for the Giants and privileged to be wearing the No. 2 jersey, a number that falls between those worn by Hall of Famers Sadaharu Oh (王貞治) and Shigeo Nagashima.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2016-12-18

Sammy Kitwara of Kenya won the 2016 Taipei Marathon on Sunday, coming in at

2:09’59 seconds and beating the existing record by about 25 seconds. (CNA photo)
Runners from Kenya swept the 2016 Taipei Marathon on Sunday.

Sammy Kitwara of Kenya won the men’s marathon, coming in at 2:09’59 seconds. The Chinese Taipei Road Running Association said that Kitwara broke the existing record by about 25 seconds. That time, 2:10:24, was achieved by Ethiopia’s Yemane Tsegay Adhane in 2011.

Kitwara’s achievements earned him NT$800,000 (US$25,004) in prize money for winning the top title and an additional NT$1 million (US$31,200) for breaking the record.  [FULL  STORY]