Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/16
By: Chang Ming-hsuan and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Feb. 16 (CNA) Themed on the legendary Hongye youth baseball team that wrote a page of Taiwan’s baseball history in 1968, an artistic bread creation by three bakers from Taiwan won them the silver medal at the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, or the Bakery World Cup, in Paris last week.

In an eight-hour section of the baking contest of the world cup, also known as the bread-baking Olympics, they created a work depicting an aboriginal baseball player, Wang Peng-chieh (王鵬傑), head of the Taiwan team, said at a press conference in Taipei Tuesday.

Wang said he believed that it was the “Hongye spirit” — self-confidence and unification of different ethnic groups — which they tried to convey through their work that wowed the judges and chefs in Paris, earning them a high score.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/15
By: Paul Chang and Y.F. Low

Toronto, Feb. 14 (CNA) Taiwan bagged a total of four gold and two bronze

medals at the 2016 Canada Open Taekwondo Championships in Montreal, Canada, finishing as the biggest winner in the competition.

On Sunday, the last day of the three-day competition, Taiwan’s Huang Yu-jen (黃鈺仁) took a gold medal in the 68-kilogram men’s event after his Canadian rival withdrew from the match.

In the 87-kilogram men’s event, Taiwan’s Lee Yue-lin (李岳霖) finished with a bronze medal after being defeated 2-3 by a Mexican athlete.

The two medals on Sunday brought Taiwan’s total count to six.      [SOURCE]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/14
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Feb. 14 (CNA) American tennis star Venus Williams took the

championship of the 2016 WTA Taiwan Open Sunday, beating her Japanese rival Misaki Doi 6-4, 6-2.

Williams had a dramatic first set after Doi came from behind to lead 4-3.

The American managed to find her form in time for a tie and broke Doi’s serve to win the set.

The tournament was the first of its kind ever to be held in Taiwan and will be held in the 6th week on the WTA annual calendar regularly in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan. More than 40 of the world’s top professional women tennis players competed in singles and doubles for US$500,000 in total prize money.     [SOURCE]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/14
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Feb. 14 (CNA) The Taiwanese sister duo of Chan Yung-jan (詹詠然)

and Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴) managed to keep their doubles trophy at home Sunday, beating their Japanese opponents Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato 6-4, 6-3 at the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Taiwan Open.

Venus Williams of the United States won the single’s title earlier in the day.

The tournament was the first of its kind ever held in Taiwan and will be held in the 6th week of the WTA annual calendar regularly in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan. More than 40 of the world’s top professional female tennis players competed in singles and doubles for US$500,000 in total prize money.     [SOURCE]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/14
By: S.C. Chang

Taipei, Feb. 14 (CNA) Liu Wei-ting (劉威廷) of Taiwan beat a Nigerian athlete

5-0 to won a gold medal in the 80-kilogram men’s event of the 2016 Canada Open Taekwondo Championships in Montreal, Canada Sunday.

Liu’s coach Lee Chia-jung (李佳融) said Liu managed to defeat two Canadians and one Mexican to reach the final despite a groin injury he sustained last week while competing in the U.S. Open.

Liu said it was an unusual experience to compete in a city where the temperature was minus 20 degrees Celsius. “I did not feel right from head to toe,” with static electricity creating noise here and there, he said.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 15, 2016
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Taiwan’s top female badminton player, Tai Tzu-ying, is ready to put an up-

and-down year behind her and focus her attention on this year’s Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Though Tai rose to No. 3 in the Badminton World Federation’s women’s singles rankings in August last year, the highest-ranking of any Taiwanese woman, she said it could have been better, pointing to the wide gap in ranking points between her and those ranked above her.

She was also hampered by an injury to a heel suffered at the Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open in November last year that led to poor results there and at the Dubai World Superseries Finals in December, tournaments she had won in 2014. The loss of ranking points at those two events sent her ranking tumbling to ninth in the world.

Tai said her injury limited her in Dubai and she subsequently decided to turn down invitations to other events on the advice of her father and concentrate on getting healthy.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/13
By: Lee Yu-cheng and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Feb. 13 (CNA) American tennis star Venus Williams advanced to the

final of the 2016 WTA Taiwan Open Saturday by defeating her Kazakhstan rival Yulia Putintseva in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.

Williams, who is now ranked seventh in the world and is the top seed in the tournament that opened Feb. 6, will meet Misaki Doi of Japan in the final on Sunday.

Doi beat Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) in the semifinals 6-0, 6-2.      [SOURCE]

HIGH HOPES:The Taiwanese duo are to face Japanese opponents Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato, against who they hold a 1-0 career record, in their first final of the year

Taipei Times
Date: Feb 14, 2016
By: Dave Carroll / Staff reporter

The Chan sisters advanced to the doubles final at the Taiwan Open in

Kaohsiung yesterday, but fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei’s campaign ended when she crashed out of the semi-finals of the singles.

Top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan defeated unseeded fellow Taiwanese Hsu Ching-wen and Lee Ya-hsuan 6-3, 6-3 on Center Court at the Yang-Ming Tennis Center.

The world Nos. 11 and 10 saved six of seven break points and converted all four they created, winning 57 of the 100 points contested to complete the victory in 65 minutes.

In today’s final, the Chan sisters face Japanese duo Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato, who defeated third-seeded Ukrainian sisters Lyudmyla and Nadiia Kichenok 6-1, 2-6, 10-7 in 66 minutes in the second semi-final.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2016/02/12
By: Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Feb. 12 (CNA) In any case, Taiwanese players will play in the finals of

the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Taiwan Open tournaments, thanks to that two local pairs played into the semifinals of the doubles event Friday and they will compete with each other for a place in the finals.

The sister duo of Chan Yung-jan (詹詠然) and Chan Hao-ching (詹皓晴), the top seed in the doubles, got a straight set win over the team of Marina Melnikova from Russia and Mandy Minella from Luxemburg 6-2 and 6-4.

According to the doubles main draw, the Chan sisters will compete with the compatriot duo of Hsu Ching-wen (徐竫雯) and Lee Ya-hsuan (李亞軒) in the semifinals slated for Saturday.     [FULL  STORY]