Sports

Taiwan 10s begins in Taoyuan

FUN AND GAMES:While some teams like Taoyuan City and New Taipei City remain focused on winning the cup, others plan to just enjoy the experience of the event

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 07, 2015
By: Grant Dexter  /  Staff reporter

The fifth Taiwan Rugby Union 10s tournament got under way yesterday, with 16 teams,

Taiwan Ronin’s Roy Chen dives over for a try during their game against the Taipei Baboons at Taoyuan Stadium yesterday. Photo: Grant Dexter, Taipei Times

Taiwan Ronin’s Roy Chen dives over for a try during their game against the Taipei Baboons at Taoyuan Stadium yesterday. Photo: Grant Dexter, Taipei Times

including one from Hong Kong, one from Macau and four veterans’ teams, descending on Taoyuan Stadium for two days of rugby action, although not all of them were overly focused on winning.

In Pool A, Taoyuan City opened strongly with a 26-5 win over Taipei NTU Dreams.

Taoyuan captain Le Yu-feng said the team was on track to pick up a tournament victory.

“We are confident about tomorrow,” he said. “Maybe we can win.”

The other two Pool A teams were Fivewoods and New Taipei City, who met in Game 2, with New Taipei City running out the 19-7 winners.     [FULL  STORY]

Monkeys secure lead with 6-3 win over EDA Rhinos

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

The top-ranked Lamigo Monkeys picked up a much-needed win on the road by topping the second-placed EDA Rhinos 6-3 at Cheng Ching Lake Baseball Stadium in Kaohsiung last night to clinch their first series in two weeks.

Lin Chih-sheng added to his league-leading batting average of .391 by going two-for-four with a double and a home run on a two-RBI night to lift the Primates past their foes. The two-run blast off Rhinos staff ace Mike Loree, Lin’s 14th of the year, kept the Lamigo slugger on pace with the Rhinos’ Kao Kuo-hui, who also homered on the night to cling onto a one home run lead over Lin.

“It is great to be able to help our team win, especially in a close race for the first-half title,” Lin said after the game.     [FULL  STORY]

One-handed basketball players inspire fans in Taiwan

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/05
By: Chen Chou-fu and Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, June 5 (CNA) Three one-handed basketball players from the United States and 201506050025t0001Taiwan demonstrated their skills in front of local fans on Friday and showed them that one can succeed despite adversity.

Kevin Laue and Zach Hodskins from the United States and Fan Hung-hao (范弘昊) from Taiwan teamed up to play three-on-three games with local teams in Kaohsiung in front of a packed crowd of enthusiastic fans.

The audience cheered loudly as the three players with disabilities shot, dribbled and even dunked the basketball, and many fans said they were inspired by the team’s skills to practice harder in the future.

Laue, a 211-centimeter-tall center whose left arm ends at the elbow, was the first one-armed player to compete at the Division I level in college basketball, while Hodskins is a guard on the University of Florida basketball team.     [FULL  STORY]

Indonesia excluded from Cup qualifiers, Taiwan game axed

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 04, 2015
By: Reuters, SINGAPORE

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) has confirmed Indonesia’s immediate ban from all international soccer, including next week’s 2018 World Cup qualifiers, because of government meddling in the country’s domestic league.

Indonesia was formally notified over the weekend that it had been suspended by soccer’s world governing body FIFA and the AFC confirmed yesterday the bans would include the World Cup and 2019 Asian Cup qualifiers.     [FULL  STORY]

Hsieh and Pennetta advance to quarters at Roland Garros

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 03, 2015
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter

Reigning champion Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the French Open on Monday.

Taiwan’s Hsieh and Flavia Pennetta of Italy defeated Janette Husarova of Slovakia and Paula Kania of Poland 6-3, 7-5 on Court Three at Roland Garros in the third round in Paris.

World No. 10 Hsieh, who won the French Open women’s doubles title last year with Peng Shuai of China, and world No. 12 Pennetta, who is also a Grand Slam champion, having won the Australian Open in 2011 with Gisela Dulko of Argentina, saved four of eight break-point chances and converted seven of 14 in the straight-sets victory.     [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s Chan sisters knocked out in third round

Taipei Times
Date:  Jun 02, 2015
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter

The Chan sisters’ hopes of a French Open women’s doubles title evaporated on Sunday as both Hao-ching and Yung-jan were knocked out of the third round at Roland Garros.

Chan Hao-ching and Anabel Medina Garrigues fell to a 7-6 (7/5), 6-2 defeat to ninth-seeded Czech duo Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in a rain-hit match on Court Two.

The Taiwanese-Spanish pairing began the match brightly, breaking serve in the first game, but were struggling to hold their own serve in the second when the rain began to fall in Paris.     [FULL  STORY]

Hsieh, Pennetta cruise into third at Roland Garros

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 01, 2015
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter

Fourth seeds Hsieh Su-wei and Flavia Pennetta cruised into the third round of the women’s doubles at the French Open on Saturday.

The Taiwanese-Italian duo, whose fledgling partnership has yet to produce any notable results, but who seem to be playing themselves into some form at the season’s second Grand Slam, defeated Madison Brengle of the US and Tatjana Maria of Germany 6-1, 6-3 on Court 17 at Roland Garros.

Hsieh and Pennetta saved one of the two break-point chances they faced and converted eight of 11, winning 62 of the 98 points contested to advance to a third-round clash with Janette Husarova of Slovakia and Paula Kania of Poland, who comfortably ousted Czech sisters Karolina and Kristyna Pliskova 6-2, 6-1.      [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan’s Lu successfully defends JLPGA Resort Trust Open title (update)

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/31
By: Yang Ming-chu and S.C. Chang

Tokyo, May 31 (CNA) Taiwanese golfer Teresa Lu fired a five-under 67 to retain her 201505310015t0001title at the Resort Trust Ladies Open in Japan Sunday with a total score of 14-under 202.

“I wasn’t doing well on the green today. But I tried — and succeeded — in relaxing myself, focusing on playing golf without giving much thought to winning and defending my title,” Lu said.

Placed second and just one stroke behind South Korea’s Jiyai Shin in the second round, Lu carded seven birdies and two bogeys in the final round to beat Shin and bag her second win for this season and her sixth in the Japan Tour.

Both Lu and Shin carded three birdies on the front nine and were tied at the 10th. But then Lu fired two straight birdies to get ahead of Shin.     [FULL  STORY]

Taoyuan thrash hosts in New Taipei City game

Taipei Times
Date: May 29, 2015
By: Paul Huang  /  Contributing reporter

Taoyuan easily advanced to today’s semi-final against Tainan by defeating New Taipei City in a surprising 10-0 shutout win at the Sinjhuang Baseball Stadium in New Taipei City yesterday to finish the second round of the E.Sun Cup with a perfect 3-0 record.

Going into the tournament as heavy favorites, the four-time defending champions needed only five innings to thrash their archrivals in front of a hostile crowd to send the hosts packing in one of the most dominating showings in recent years.

Starter Chang Chao-sheng was at his best, pitching 3-2/3 innings of shutout ball in a one-hitter, before being relieved by Chang Chun-kai, who followed up with 1-1/3 innings of scoreless relief to keep the shutout intact.     [FULL  STORY]

Chan’s, Chuang’s winning streaks continue in Paris

Taipei Times
Date: May 29, 2015
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter

Title winners on Saturday, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Chuang Chia-jung kept

Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching, left, and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain pose for a photograph on Court Seven at Roland Garros in Paris on Wednesday following their French Open women’s doubles match. Screen grab from Facebook

Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching, left, and Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain pose for a photograph on Court Seven at Roland Garros in Paris on Wednesday following their French Open women’s doubles match. Screen grab from Facebook

their winning streaks going in the women’s doubles at the French Open on Wednesday.

Chan and Anabel Medina Garrigues, who won the doubles title at the Nuremberg Versicherungscup on Saturday, cruised into the second round at Roland Garros, defeating Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia and Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-3, 6-1.

The Taiwanese-Spanish duo, who won 60 of the 100 points contested, saved both break-point chances they faced and converted four of five to set up a second-round clash with either Ysaline Bonaventure of Belgium and Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia or sixth-seeded US duo Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears.

Chuang, who won the doubles at the Internationaux de Strasbourg in France with Liang Chen of China on Saturday, has teamed up with Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland this week and they had a tougher time getting past Monica Niculescu of Romania and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain 6-4, 6-3.     [FULL  STORY]