Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/08
By: Han Ting-ting and Kay Liu

Taipei, May 8 (CNA) Taiwanese eSports team Flash Wolves secured a spot in the next stage of the League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) contest after finishing in third place in the group stage in Shanghai on Sunday.

Flash Wolves are representing the Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau region in the competitive gaming tournament that is based on the popular multi-player online game, League of Legends, which, according to its developer Riot Games Inc., is played by 27 million people every day.

Among the six teams in the competition, the Taiwanese team and SKTelecom T1 of South Korea both finished the group stage with six wins and four defeats, while China’s Royal Never Give Up came out on top with eight wins and two defeats.

Counter Logic Gaming, which came to the contest as the North American champion, took the remaining spot in the knockout stage that will be held May 13-15.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/08
By: Shen Ju-feng and Bear Lee

Taipei, May 8 (CNA) Around 6,000 runners took part in the Taiwan leg of the Wings for Life World

Run, which kicked off at 7 p.m. Sunday (Taipei time) in Yilan Stadium, simultaneously with runners in 34 other locations around the world.

The running competition has been held on the first weekend of May since 2014 to collect funds for the not-for-profit foundation Wings for Life. The entry fee goes completely to the foundation to support research and studies about spinal cord and spinal cord injuries.

The Wings for Life World Run is particular in that participants don’t have to run a specific distance like in comparable competitions. A car rides on the track half an hour after the start. Overtaken participants are eliminated until just one, the winner, remains.

Another characteristic is that the run takes place in 34 or 35 locations around the Earth at the same time.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 06, 2016
By: Dave Carroll / Staff reporter, with AP, MADRID

Taiwanese sisters Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan crashed out of the quarter-finals of the

women’s doubles at the Mutua Madrid Open yesterday, while world No. 1 Novak Djokovic eased into the third round of the men’s singles on Wednesday.

The fourth-seeded Chan sisters looked to be heading for a possible semi-final showdown with top seeds Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza after they claimed the first set 6-2, but Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva fought back in the second, then saved two match points in the super tiebreak before converting their first chance to clinch the match 2-6, 6-4, 11-9 on Pista 4 at the Caja Magica in the Spanish capital.

The American-Russia duo saved six of 10 break points and converted three of five, winning five fewer points than the Taiwanese pairing, but still prevailing in 1 hour, 26 minutes.
In the second round on Wednesday, the Chan sisters eased into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Margarita Gasparyan of Russia and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in 64 minutes.
In the men’s singles on Wednesday, Djokovic advanced by beating Borna Coric 6-2, 6-4.

Djokovic, who had not played in Madrid since 2013, served four double faults, but relied on his return to overpower Coric.
“I thought I was serving quite well in the practice sessions, but then the first set went well, the second not so much,” said Djokovic, who claimed his only Madrid Open title in 2011 when he beat Rafael Nadal in the final. “The first-serve percentage could have been higher and should be higher for the upcoming matches, but I’m satisfied with my game.”

Coric’s style has been compared to that of “a young Djokovic,” and the Serb said his opponent had a “nice balance between confident approach and self-belief on the court, and is not really intimidated by anyone’s presence.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/01
By: Huang Chiao-wen, Ku Chuan and Kay Liu

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) Colombian Frank Carreño and Australian Alice McNamara won the men’s

and women’s events, respectively, in this year’s Taipei 101 Run Up Sunday.

Carreño, who was taking part in the race for the first time, finished the 91-floor, 2,046-step climb in 11:47.24, eight seconds ahead of the runner-up, Italian Emanuelle Manzi, who also finished second last year.

McNamara, meanwhile, clocked 14:23.91 to clinch the women’s title and said afterward in a Twitter post: “Pleased to have got this one! -16secs from 2014 (14:23) and finally the win!”

Carreño and McNamara each won a trophy and a cash prize of NT$38,000 (US$1,177.02), but neither of them broke the records set in 2005, when Paul Crake of Australia clocked 10:29 and Austria’s Andrea Mayr finished in 12:38 in the inaugural event in Taiwan’s tallest building.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/01
By: Lee Yu-cheng and Brook Hsiao

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) Taiwanese archers won a gold, two silver and a bronze medals in the

recurve women’s team, mixed team, and individual events, respectively, at the 2016 Archery World Cup in Shanghai Sunday.

Tan Ya-ting (譚雅婷) who competed in the women’s team, individual and mixed team competitions, won a total of three medals — a gold and two silvers, respectively.

In the recurve women’s team final held that morning, Tan teamed up with Le Chien-ying (雷千瑩) and Lin Shih-chia (林詩嘉) to defeat an Indian team 6-2 and take the championship.

But Tan couldn’t make it a double gold in the next competition, losing 2-6 to Korean Ju Hyebhin in the women’s individual final and having to settle for 2nd place.

Tan teamed up with Wei Chun-heng (魏均珩) in the recurve mixed team match against U.S. archers Khatuna Lorig and Brady Ellison, in which they were defeated by the U.S. 1-5, to give them silver.

Wei also competed in the recurve men’s individual for the bronze medal, in which he beat his Mexican competitor Ernesto Horacio Boardman 7-3.     [SOURCE]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/05/01
By: Lee Yu-cheng and Kay Liu

Taipei, May 1 (CNA) A Taiwanese pair that has won two junior tennis Grand Slam titles became

the first players to keep the title of the Santaizi ATP Challenger at home Sunday.

The third-seeded Taiwanese pair, Yang Tsung-hua (楊宗樺), 25, and his 24-year-old partner Hsieh Cheng-peng (謝政鵬), beat fourth-seeded Federik Nielson of Denmark and Ireland’s David O’Hare 7-6(6), 6-4 in Sunday’s final of the week-long tournament.

“(I’m) grateful to my partner Hsieh Cheng-peng, who helped me grab a title upon my comeback,” said Yang, who had been treating an injury to one of the fingers of his right hand after the Australian Open in January.

Yang and Hsieh first teamed up when they were competing in junior tournaments and won the doubles title at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2008.     [FULL  STORY]