Sports

Taiwan’s Chuang advances to semis in Strasbourg

Taipei Times
Date: May 20, 2016
By: Dave Carroll / Staff reporter

Chuang Chia-jung advanced to the semi-finals of the doubles at the Internationaux de Strasbourg on Wednesday, while fellow Taiwanese Chan Chin-wei was beaten in the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Nuernberg Versicherungscup.

Second seeds Chuang and Darija Jurak rallied from a set down to edge a tight quarter-final 6-7 (3/7), 7-6 (7/4), 10-8 against Nicole Melichar of the US and Alicja Rosolska of Poland in two minutes short of two hours on the red clay in France.

The Taiwanese-Croatian duo saved six of 10 break points and converted four of eight, winning 89 of the 172 points contested to advance to a semi-final today against third seeds Maria Irigoyen of Argentina and Liang Chen of China.

In the second round of the singles, fourth seed Kristina Mladenovic rallied from a set down and survived a third-set fightback by Alison Riske of the US to advance 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in a minute over three hours.

Riske fought back from 5-1 in the third set, saving four match points to draw level at 5-5      [FULL  STORY]

International Olympic medalists to compete in Taiwan Athletics Open

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/18
By: Lee Yu-cheng and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 18 (CNA) Several Olympic track and field athletes from around the world have

Athletes promote Taiwan Athletics Open in Taoyuan Wednesday.

Athletes promote Taiwan Athletics Open in Taoyuan Wednesday.

arrived in Taiwan to participate in one of the country’s premier athletics championships, which will be held Thursday and Friday at the Taoyuan City Stadium.

Olga Rypakova of Kazakhstan, one of the 20 international athletes invited to the Taiwan Athletics Open by the Taoyuan City government, said at a press conference in Taipei Wednesday that she sees the championships as a warm up to the upcoming summer Olympic Games.

Rypakova, the gold medalist in the women’s triple jump at the 2012 London Olympics, said she is confident of winning gold again this year at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August.

Oleksandr Pyatnytsya of the Ukraine spoke about his experience in competing in the London Olympics, at which he won silver in the men’s javelin throw.     [FULL  STORY]

Jeremy Lin to visit Taiwan in June

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/17
By: Lee Yu-cheng and Y.F. Low

Taipei, May 17 (CNA) American NBA star of Taiwanese descent Jeremy Lin (林書豪) will visit

NBA player Jeremy Lin. (CNA file photo)

NBA player Jeremy Lin. (CNA file photo)

Taiwan June 10-17 as part of his annual Asia tour, his agency said Tuesday.

During his stay in Taiwan, the Charlotte Hornets point guard will coach at a basketball camp in Kaohsiung June 11-12.

While in Kaohsiung on June 11, Lin will also attend a Christian gathering to share his life experience.

He will be in Taipei June 13-16, when he will take part in a series of activities, including a charity event, a seminar, a fan meet-and-greet, and two promotional events, before heading to China June 17.    [FULL  STORY]

Chuang, Jurak cruise into Strasbourg quarter-finals

Taipei Times
Date: May 18, 2016
By: Dave Carroll / Staff reporter, with AP, STRASBOURG, France

Taiwan’s Chuang Chia-jung cruised into the second round of the doubles at the Internationaux de Strasbourg on Monday, while top seed Sara Errani was ousted in the singles.

Second seeds Chuang and Darija Jurak of Croatia eased to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Nadia Podoroska of Argentina and Jil Belen Teichmann of Switzerland in just 63 minutes on the red clay in France.

The Taiwanese-Croatian duo saved six of seven break points and converted five of 10, winning 58 of the 92 points contested to advance to a quarter-final against Nicole Melichar of the US and Alicja Rosolska of Poland, who advanced with a walkover when their opponents pulled out before their first-round clash.

In the singles, Errani suffered another setback in her French Open preparations when she lost to Monica Puig of Puerto Rico 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 in the first round.

It was the third straight tournament Errani has lost in the opening round.

The poor run prompted the Italian, who won in Dubai in February, to seek and receive a wild card into Strasbourg to try and improve her confidence for the French Open starting on Sunday.     [FULL  STORY]

Hsieh advances, Chan rallies to win

Taipei Times
Date: May 17, 2016
By Dave Carroll / Staff reporter

Hsieh Su-wei on Sunday cruised into the second round of the singles at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, while fellow Taiwanese Chan Chin-wei battled into the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Nuernberger Versicherungscup.

Taiwanese No. 1 Hsieh took just 50 minutes to see off Chinese qualifier Xu Yi-fan 6-3, 6-1 on the red clay in France, improving her career record against Xu to 2-0 following a straight-sets victory in Kuala Lumpur in 2012.

The world No. 83 conceded the only break point she faced, but converted five of six, winning 57 of the 90 points contested.

Also advancing on Sunday was French fourth seed Kristina Mladenovic, who battled past Madison Brengle of the US 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 in 1 hour, 53 minutes.     [FULL  STORY]

Lu Yen-hsun loses in singles final at ATP Seoul Challenger

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/15
By: Lee Yu-cheng and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, May 15 (CNA) Taiwan’s top tennis player Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) suffered a loss Sunday

File photo

File photo

in the singles final of the ATP Seoul Challenger tournament, which was his first tournament since undergoing surgery on his elbow early this year.

Lu was defeated by Sergiy Stakhovsky from Ukraine 6-4, 3-6 and 6-7 (7-9) at the Seoul Challenger, which carries total prize money of US$100,000.

The tournament was also Lu’s first official match this year.

The 38-year-old, who holds the 108th spot on the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) singles rankings, had not played any matches since undergoing the surgery to have bone chips removed from his elbow early this year.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan soccer headed back to Japanese school

Taipei Times
Date: May 16, 2016
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

With the national team facing an AFC Asian Cup qualifier next month, the Chinese Taipei

Toshiaki Imai, who was appointed Taiwan head coach, shows off a personalized team shirt at a press event in Taipei on May 3. Photo: Cho Chia-ping, Taipei Times

Toshiaki Imai, who was appointed Taiwan head coach, shows off a personalized team shirt at a press event in Taipei on May 3. Photo: Cho Chia-ping, Taipei Times

Football Association (CTFA) has appointed Toshiaki Imai as the team’s head coach, the Japanese manager’s second go at the job.

Officials also confirmed Imai is to control the squad for next year’s Universiade in Taipei, with the association announcing the men’s squad on Thursday.

The coaching position became vacant when Chen Kuei-jen quit on April 5.

Chen said he resigned to take responsibility for the squad’s “shortcomings” in international qualifying games and suggested that a foreign coach take over to lead the team to a higher level.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan tennis player advances to Seoul Challenger final

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/14
By: Lee Chin-wei and Romulo Huang

Taipei, May 14 (CNA) Taiwan’s top tennis player Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) grabbed a berth in the

CNA file photo

CNA file photo

final of the 2016 Seoul Challenger tournament after defeating Lukas Lacko from Slovakia with 2-1 (7-6, 5-7, 6-3) in the semifinals Saturday.

Lu, 32, who is currently ranked 108th in the men’s singles world rankings, is seeking to win a fourth title at the tournament, which is being held in South Korea’s capital city of Seoul. He had won the ATP Challenger Tour event three consecutive times from 2010 to 2012.

Lu will vie for the title of this year’s tournament with Sergiy Stakhovsky from Ukraine in the final slated for Sunday.

Stakhovsky, 30, who is currently ranked at 118th in men’s singles, beat Alexander Kudryavtsev from Russia in the other match of the semifinals played on Saturday in two strait sets (6-2, 6-4).     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan falls in Rome

Taipei Times
Date: May 14, 2016
By: Dave Carroll / Staff reporter, with AP, ROME

Taiwan’s Chan Yung-jan fell in the second round of the women’s doubles at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday, while Roger Federer was not concerned after crashing out of the third round of the men’s singles.

Sixth seeds Chan and Anna-Lena Groenefeld looked to be cruising to the quarter-finals at the Foro Italico in Rome when they won the first set 6-2, but Romanian duo Irina-Camelia Begu and Monica Niculescu rallied to edge the second set and then completed a 2-6, 7-6 (7/1), 10-8 victory in the super tiebreak.

Begu and Niculescu saved one of the seven break points they faced against the Taiwanese-German duo, but they converted four of six, winning 69 of the 137 points contested in 1 hour, 32 minutes in the Italian capital.     [FULL  STORY]

Australian taewondo athletes to come to Taiwan for training

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/12
By: Lee Yu-cheng and Elizabeth Hsu

Kaohsiung, May 12 (CNA) The national taekwondo team of Australia will fly to Taiwan May 15

A taekwondon match between Taiwan and Australia during the 2000 Sydney Games. (CNA file photo)

A taekwondon match between Taiwan and Australia during the 2000 Sydney Games. (CNA file photo)

to conduct its own training at the National Sports Training Center in Kaohsiung, according to the chief coach of Taiwan’s national taekwondo team.

It will be the second national taekwondo team of a foreign country to carry out overseas training at the center since late April, when the French team used the facility for its practices, Lee Chia-jung (李佳融) said Thursday, when the Kaohsiung center was opened to the media.

Athletes from both teams have already secured their tickets to the 2016 Olympic Games, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from Aug. 5-21, Lee said.

“We can use the opportunity to absorb Western techniques,” he said. Three Taiwanese athletes have qualified for the taekwondo event in Rio, while four Australians have booked their places.     [FULL  STORY]