Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/19
By: Paige Tsai and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Dec. 19 (CNA) The Taipei City Government said Saturday that it is recruiting 18,000 volunteers to serve at the 2017 Summer Universiade in the city.

The volunteers will be comprised of 12,000 students and 6,000 non-students, who will be assigned to one of five types of tasks: administration, venue management, culture, reception and service, the city government said.

So far, more than 7,000 people have registered as volunteers, it said, urging more sports-loving people to take part.

Registration is only available online. People interested in becoming a Universiade volunteer may visit the official website: http://volunteer2017.utaipei.edu.tw/bin/home.php.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/13
By: Lee Chin-wei and S.C. Chang

Taipei, Dec. 13 (CNA) Pai Yu-po (白馭珀) of Taiwan came from behind to defeat

Kirsty Gilmour of Scotland 18-21, 21-15, 21-15 to win women’s singles championship at BWF 2015 K&D Graphics/Yonex Grand Prix in Orange County, California, the United States Saturday local time.

Pai, who is 25th in world rankings, had countered 20th-ranked Gilmour four times, beating the latter only once in this year’s Yonex German Open.

In their fifth duel Saturday, Pai lost the first set 18-21 but managed to win two following sets 21-15 and 21-15 to snatch the singles title 2-1.

The K&D Graphics and Grand Prix kicked off Dec. 6 for six days, carrying a purse of US$50,000.

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 14, 2015
By: Paul Huang  /  Contributing reporter

Bank of Taiwan last night nipped a three-game slide with an 80-69 win over the

previously red-hot Yulon Luxgens at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City to close out the week on a high note.

Luke Nevill led all scorers with 25 points, including a clutch two midway through the fourth after the Automakers had reduced the deficit to as close as one to give the Bankers an insurmountable 67-59 advantage at that point.

“We stayed composed in the fourth quarter when we needed the most to keep [Yulon] from turning the game on us,” Nevill said after the game.

The Bankers led by as many as 20 late in the second quarter before allowing the Luxgens back in the game with a horrendous third against a two-three zone defense by the Automakers.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/08
By: Lin Hung-han and Y.F. Low

Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) Taiwanese pitcher Chien-Ming Wang (王建民) said Tuesday that he hopes to continue his professional career in the United States next year after ending the 2015 season in Triple-A with the Seattle Mariners.

“I will pitch as long as I can,” said Wang, who returned to Taiwan Sunday.

He said his agent will help him deal with the matter of finding a new team in the U.S.

The 35-year-old right-hander was a star player with the New York Yankees from 2005 to 2008, going 54-20 with a 3.79 ERA, but he suffered a foot injury while running the bases in Houston in a game against the Astros, which led to a slide in his career.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: , Dec 07, 2015
By: Paul Huang  /  Contributing reporter

Patrick O’Bryant scored a season-high 38 points and Lu Chi-min added another 11, five of which came in

overtime, as Taiwan Beer shook off the feisty Dacin Tigers to escape with a 94-85 victory at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City last night to remain unbeaten with a 5-0 record.

Taking advantage of a Tigers crew missing the services of hired gun Marcus Douthit to injury, O’Bryant made his presence felt inside the paint with 28 rebounds on the night to dampen an otherwise solid effort by the Cats, who nearly pulled off an upset by playing the Brew Crew tough in regulation.

“We were not as aggressive on defense as we could have been, that’s what made the game closer than we had anticipated,” Lu said after the game.

He managed to save his best for last by taking the ball strong to the hoop in the closing minutes to seal the win.

What should have been an easy victory for the league leaders turned into a dogfight with the Cats knocking down three three-pointers in a 24-point second quarter to grab a surprising 38-37 lead at the half after a slow start by both clubs.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/05
By: Lee Chin-wei and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Dec. 5 (CNA) Taiwanese tennis players Yang Tsung-hua (楊宗樺) and Hsieh

Cheng-peng (謝政鵬) beat their Chinese counterparts in straight sets in an Australian Open Asia-Pacific Wildcard Playoff in Shenzhen Saturday to win a berth in the Australian Open men’s doubles.

Yang and Hsieh defeated Bai Yan (柏衍) and Li Zhe (李喆) 6-4, 7-6 (6) to gain a spot in the first grand slam event of 2016.

The Taiwanese duo nearly let the second set get away from them when they squandered a 4-2 lead to fall behind 5-4, but they recovered to get the set to a tiebreaker.

Taipei Times
Date:  Dec 06, 2015
By: Paul Huang  /  Contributing reporter

Pure Youth Construction overcame a sluggish third quarter with a valiant finish in the final

minutes to turn back a feisty Bank of Taiwan squad 79-76 at the Banciao Gymnasium in New Taipei City last night to improve to a 4-1 mark for the season.

Tsai Wen-cheng’s runaway layup off a Bank of Taiwan turnover on an inbound pass with 15 seconds left to play rallied the four-time defending champions from as many as three down with less than 30 seconds remaining to put the Builders ahead for good.

“The ball just came loose and we were in the right place at the right time to cash in on [Bank of Taiwan’s] mistake,” Tsai said after the game, referring to Bank of Taiwan guard Lee Wei-che’s erroneous inbound pass that found its way to Pure Youth’s Lin Chin-bang, who immediately hurled the ball up the court to Tsai for the game-deciding finish.

Heading into the contest with a big win over the Yulon Luxgens under their belt, the Bankers matched the Builders shot-for-shot in an evenly fought first quarter that ended tied at 21-21 before a drop in intensity saw them trail Pure Youth 41-37 at the half.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/12/01
By: Lin Hung-han and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Dec. 1 (CNA) The president of the Baseball Federation of Asia is so confident

of baseball’s return to the Olympic Games that he said publicly in Taipei Tuesday: it is certain that baseball/softball will be included as one of the sports in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

“The return has been decided. Now the only thing missing is a formal announcement,” Tom Peng (彭誠浩) said in response to questions by reporters on whether baseball can become an Olympic sport again after it was excluded in the 2012 London Olympic Games and the 2016 Rio Olympics.

Peng also said that the 2019 World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Premier 12 baseball tournament will serve as the qualification event for the Tokyo Olympic Games.     [FULL  STORY]