Team Taiwan's perseverance pays off at international tug-of-war event in Ireland

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/24
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwanese national tug-of-war team won five gold medals and one silver medal at the 2020 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Ireland on Sunday (Feb. 23).

The competition was co-hosted by the Irish Tug of War Association and the Tug of War International Federation (TWIF) and took place over the course of four days (Feb. 20–23) at the Aura Letterkenny Leisure Centre in northwestern Ireland. Joining Taiwan were teams from Ireland, England, Scotland, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Russia, and Japan.

Despite competing against tough international opponents, Team Taiwan still managed to secure three gold medals in the women's category and two in the men's. The Taiwanese national champions also took silver in the U23 Men's 600 kg category, according to Liberty Times.

The team's head coach, Rex Kuo (郭昇), who was paralyzed by a drunk driver in May of last year, accompanied the contestants in his wheelchair. After receiving their gold medals, the youngsters expressed gratitude to Kuo and encouraged him, saying he could stand up again if the team could win, reported ETtoday.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/24/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, Feb. 24 (CNA) Taiwan's national men's basketball team was routed by nearly 40 points by the visiting Japanese in Taipei on Monday in their first matchup in the qualifying round of the 2021 FIBA Asia Cup.

After crushing the Malaysians by more than 100 points on Friday, Taiwan fell to Japan 96-57 at Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium, which was again closed to fans to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Power forward Ryan Francis Rossiter led Japan with 17 points and 19 rebounds, while Taiwan captain Chen Ying-chun (陳盈駿) led the hosts with 13 points.

The loss gives Taiwan a 1-1 record in Group B, which also includes Malaysia, Japan, and China.
[FULL  STORY]

SOLO STAR: In the singles, Simona Halep won her first trophy since Wimbledon last summer, saying that the match against Elena Rybakina left her feeling ‘pretty dead’

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 24, 2020
By: CNA and AFP, DUBAI

Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and her doubles partner Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic defended

their title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Saturday, taking their second trophy of the season.

The top-seeded duo overcame Zheng Saisai of China and Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 3-6, 10-5 in a nearly two-hour match.

Hsieh and Strycova took an early 3-1 lead in the opening set, and although their opponents came from behind to tie 5-5, the duo kept their cool to take the next two games and win 7-5.

In the second set, the duo also took a 3-1 lead, but then gave up five games in a row to lose 3-6.
[FULL  STORY]

22-year-old Jacky Chen from New Taipei City pulls off upset win at Asia Open 2020

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/20
By: Micah McCartney, Taiwan News

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The disc golfing community received a bit of a shock earlier this month when a little-known player from New Taipei City emerged triumphant at the 2020 Asia Open in Kaohsiung, marking the first time a Taiwanese has taken home the purse since the tournament was first held.

While the sport of disc golf is not exactly a household name in Asia, it is growing by leaps and bounds. Last February, Singapore hosted its first tournament to be sponsored by the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA), the Singapore Sling, and across the causeway, Malaysia’s inaugural PDGA Tour event Attack of the Chains took place in the state of Johor shortly after.

Occurring on a near biannual basis since 2009, this year’s edition of the Asia Open was organized by Mac Hsiao of the Taiwan Disc Golf Association. More than 60 of the world’s top disc golfers descended upon Kaohsiung on Feb. 8-9 to test their mettle in the sprawling Metropolitan Park.
[FULL  STORY]

‘VERY WEIRD’: Top seed Simona Halep claimed to be flabbergasted after edging past Ons Jabeur, saying it was ‘up and down’ because the Tunisian ‘doesn’t give rhythm’

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 21, 2020
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter, with AFP, DUBAI, United Arab Emirates

Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday cruised into the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Dubai Duty

Free Tennis Championships, while the Chan sisters’ poor start to the season continued as the Taiwanese second seeds crashed out.

Reigning champions Hsieh and Barbora Strycova took just 58 minutes to see off the challenge of unseeded Chinese duo Han Xinyun and Peng Shuai 6-2, 6-2 on the hard courts in the United Arab Emirates.

The top seeds converted six of nine break points and limited their opponents to a 40 percent success rate on their first serve as they advanced to a quarter-final against American pairing Sofia Kenin and Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who recovered from a disastrous start to oust sixth seeds Kveta Peschke and Demi Schuurs 0-6, 6-0, 10-1 in 54 minutes.

Taiwanese duo Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan fell to a 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 defeat to another American pairing, Desirae Krawczyk and Alison Riske, in 1 hour, 19 minutes.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/10/2020

Taiwan's Chen Yen-ping (陳燕萍, front, left) and China's defender Lin Yuping / Photo courtesy of the Chinese Taipei Football Association

Taipei, Feb. 10 (CNA) Taiwan's campaign for a ticket to the women's football competition at the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics came to an end after a heavy 5-nil defeat to China Monday in the third round of the AFC Women's Olympic Tournament qualifiers in Australia.

Taiwan ended the competition with three points, which left it third place just one spot above Thailand on zero points in last spot, in Group B.

Currently Australia and China are in the top two places in the group on six points each and advance to the playoffs against the top two teams in Group A.

Despite walking onto the pitch at Campbelltown Stadium in New South Wales with an impressive 8-1 record, carding all wins in round 1 and round 2, with one win and one loss in round three, Taiwan's defense crumbled Monday just minutes after the starting whistle.
[FULL  STORY]

Teenage Taiwanese team secures silver medal after asking organizers to fly Taiwanese national flag

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/02/03
By: Ching-Tse Cheng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan's teenage fencing team competed at the Challenge CEP Marathon Fleuret 2020 in Paris over the weekend and was able to secure second place in the male rankings and the fifth in the female.

On Saturday (Feb. 1) and Sunday (Feb. 2), Team Taiwan arrived at the French fencing competition, but coach Ou Feng-Ming (歐豐銘) and his contestants were surprised to find that no Taiwanese flags were present at the venue. After filing a complaint, the team grew even more frustrated when the event organizers chose to display the Chinese Taipei Olympic flag over Taiwan's national flag.

The young fencing contestants told CNA that they were disappointed at the absence of the Taiwanese flag and decided to talk to the event staff as they were rearranging the flags. Demetris Chen (陳宣豪), who is expected to graduate from Taipei Fuhsing Private Elementary School this June, said it made no sense that Taiwan could not unfurl its flag when all the other countries were displaying theirs.

Chen said that at first, the event staff could not understand his request since they did not speak English, but after explaining the situation with cell phone images, he was able to convey his meaning. When asked about possible pressure from Team China, the 12-year-old admitted he was a bit worried but that he had decided to follow his heart anyway.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 02/02/2020
By: Long Po-an and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Feb. 2 (CNA) A Taiwanese football team that was set to visit Mongolia to play in an AFC Cup match has been barred from entering Ulaanbaatar as part of that country's new restrictions to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

Chen Kuei-jen (陳貴人), manager of the Taipower Football Team, said the team was originally scheduled to board a flight to the Mongolian capital Sunday morning.

They were stopped at the airline counter, however, and told that the Mongolian government has barred Taiwanese citizens from entering the country to prevent the spread of the epidemic, which is centered in China but seen as a global public health emergency.

Fan Ching-ren (方靖仁), the secretary-general of the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA), told CNA that the Mongolian side said the decision was part of Mongolia's epidemic response policy barring visitors from the "Chinese area," which includes China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.    [FULL  STORY]