Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/24
By: Chiu Chun-chin and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Nov. 24 (CNA) Taiwanese Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Wei-Yin Chen (陳偉殷) said Sunday that he hopes to continue to play in the U.S. league after the Miami Marlins designated him for assignment (DFA) Wednesday, meaning that the team had seven days to trade or release him.

"Currently I have no plans (to play in the Japanese pro-league) and will continue to focus on staying in the U.S.," Chen told Taiwanese reporters upon returning to Taiwan.

Chen made the comments when asked if he would consider returning to the Japanese pro-league after his former team, the Chunichi Dragons in the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB), expressed interest in recruiting the left-hander after learning that he was DFA.

The Marlins decision to part with Chen left the team with six openings on the 40-man roster, which were filled by younger future prospects.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/24
By: William Yen

Taoyuan, Nov. 24 (CNA) A team made up of Gambians living in Taiwan were crowned the winners of the 2019 Taiwan Cup Taiwan Immigrants Football Competition Sunday after a dramatic penalty shootout in the final against a team of Vietnamese in Taoyuan.

Team Gambia and Hai Duong FC battled it out for 90 minutes to a 1-1 draw, leading to the penalty shootout that saw the Gambians score five times over the Vietnamese's three.

The Gambians scored the first goal in the sixth minute and kept up the pressure until halftime.

Eager to score an equalizer, the Hai Duong FC stepped up their game in the second half, playing an aggressive brand of offense that stunned spectators who were preparing themselves for a brawl that was on the verge of breaking out at any time.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/24
By: Lung Po-an and Evelyn Kao

Taiwanese pool player Lu Yi-hsuan (left) clinches the girls U/19 title Saturday at the 2019 WPA

Juniors Cyclop World 9-ball Championships in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Taipei, Nov. 24 (CNA) Taiwanese pool player Lu Yi-hsuan (呂翊瑄) clinched the girls U/19 title Saturday at the 2019 WPA Juniors Cyclop World 9-ball Championships in Nicosia, Cyprus.

Lu, 17, a student at Juang Jing Vocational High School, won the championship by defeating Japan's Tamami Okuda 9-5 in the final.

The victory marks the second consecutive year for a Taiwanese to claim the girls U/19 title at the tournament. Last year, Chen Chia-hua (陳佳樺), from the same vocational high school, won the championship.

However, the title did not come easily for Lu. After she advanced to the second round, she was beaten by her South Korean opponent Seo Seoa 5-7.    [FULL  STORY]\

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/21
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Nov. 21 (CNA) Taiwanese Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher Wei-Yin Chen (陳偉殷) on

Thursday thanked the Miami Marlins for letting him go, after the team announced Wednesday that he had been designated for assignment (DFA), meaning it now has seven days to trade or release him.

"I will do my best ahead of the upcoming challenges," Chen, 34, wrote in a Facebook post, expressing appreciation to the Marlins for the decision.

The Marlins made the announcement before the Wednesday night deadline in the U.S. for big league clubs to protect players from the Rule 5 draft.

"I want to thank Wei-Yin Chen for his service with the Marlins," the team's president of baseball operations Michael Hill said in a press conference. "We now have seven days to outright trade or release him. So we will continue to see if we can find him a new home within those seven days."
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/19
By: Long Po-an and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Nov. 19 (CNA) Taiwanese cyclist Feng Chun-kai (馮俊凱) has secured a place in the 2020

Tokyo Olympics Cycling Road Race, marking the first time in more than 20 years a Taiwanese male athlete has qualified for the event.

Feng earned the right to compete in the event after he finished third in the Asian Road Cycling Championships in April in Uzbekistan, which was an authorized Olympic Qualifying Race, his agent said in a press release.

Taiwan, competing under the name Chinese Taipei, is allowed one competitor in the Road Cycling men's event at the 2020 Olympics, according to the quotas announced on Nov. 15 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the world governing body of cycling.

Feng, 31, was quoted in the press release as saying that he was happy to be able to compete in the Olympics again, and he promised to do his best.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/17
By: Long Po-an and Chiang Yi-ching

Taipei, Nov. 17 (CNA) Taiwanese table tennis players Chen Szu-yu (陳思羽) and Cheng Hsien-tzu (鄭先知) lost in the final of the women's doubles at the ITTF Austrian Open Sunday, failing to win the title but recording their best performance this season.

The duo fell behind 0-2 in games but rallied to tie the match 2-2 against Japanese Miyuu Kihara and Miyu Nagasaki. However, they were unable to sustain their momentum in the deciding fifth game, losing the match 2-3.

The final score was 8-11, 7-11, 11-7, 11-9, 4-11.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/17
By: William Yen

Taipei, Nov. 17 (CNA) A friendly immigrant football competition between eight teams comprised of migrant players was launched in Taipei on Sunday, with hundreds of people gathered at a local sports stadium for the opening ceremony and to watch the first four games.

The opening ceremony of the 2019 Taiwan Cup Taiwan Immigrant Football Competition featured a march past, during which the participants, mainly of migrant workers and immigrants, represented their teams in bold brightly colored uniforms.

One of the competing teams, Guanyin FC, a football team made up of entirely Indonesian workers from Taoyuan's Guanyin District was supported by Fajar Nuradi, director of the Indonesian Citizens Protection and Social Cultural Department at the Indonesian Economic and Trade Office (IETO) in Taipei.

Guanyin FC are the current champions of the Indonesian Football League in Taiwan held earlier this year and are at the Taiwan Cup to represent Indonesia, Fajar said.    [FULL  STORY]

Fous Taiwan
Date: 2019/11/17
By: William Yen

Taipei, Nov. 17 (CNA) Taipei Fubon Braves narrowly lost their second game in the ASEAN Basketball

League (ABL) Sunday, falling 90-91 on their home court to the visiting Kuala Lumpur Dragons.

The Braves were down from the opening moments of the first period when imported American forward Amir Bell made the first basket for the Dragons with a lay-up at Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium.

However, through a series of carefully selected plays, the Taipei team were quick to retake the lead 13-12 with around four and half minutes left in the first period.

A combination of what some have suggested is the best trio of imports in the league, former NBA player Canadian center Gursimran-Sing Bhullar, NBA veteran American forward O.J. Mayo, and American forward Charles Garcia, grabbed the boards and worked the paint to give the Braves a 27-20 lead at the end of the first period.    [FULL  STORY]