Taipei Times
Date: Sep 27, 2019
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter, with AFP, WUHAN, China

The Chan sisters’ bid for a spot in the season-ending WTA Finals suffered a setback yesterday when

the Taiwanese sixth seeds were routed in the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Wuhan Open.

Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan, who claimed their fourth title of the season in Osaka, Japan, last week, fell to a 6-1, 6-1 defeat to fourth seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs in just 55 minutes on the hard courts in China.

The German-Dutch duo saved two of the three break points they faced and converted six of 11 to advance to the semi-finals and boost their chance of claiming a spot at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China, next month.

Groenefeld and Schuurs are currently eighth in the “Race to Shenzhen” rankings with 3,560 points, while the Chan sisters are fifth on 4,145.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/26
By: Huang Chiao-wen and William Yen

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) Three Taiwanese badminton aces have advanced into the quarter-finals after

defeating their respective opponents Thursday at the Korea Open 2019 badminton tournament in Incheon.

Women's singles world No. 1, 25-year-old Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) defeated 19-year-old world No. 18 Cai Yan Yan (蔡炎炎) of China 21-11, 21-11 in just 26 minutes.

The win was Tai's second victory against Cai following the last time the two played against each other at the China Open in 2015.

Tai will next face 20-year-old world No. 17 Gregoria Mariska Tunjung of Indonesia in the quarter-finals.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 27, 2019
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter, with AFP, WUHAN, China

The Chan sisters’ bid for a spot in the season-ending WTA Finals suffered a setback yesterday when

the Taiwanese sixth seeds were routed in the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Wuhan Open.

Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan, who claimed their fourth title of the season in Osaka, Japan, last week, fell to a 6-1, 6-1 defeat to fourth seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs in just 55 minutes on the hard courts in China.

The German-Dutch duo saved two of the three break points they faced and converted six of 11 to advance to the semi-finals and boost their chance of claiming a spot at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, China, next month.

Groenefeld and Schuurs are currently eighth in the “Race to Shenzhen” rankings with 3,560 points, while the Chan sisters are fifth on 4,145.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 26, 2019
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter, with AFP, WUHAN, China

The Chan sisters yesterday eased into the quarter-finals of the doubles at the Wuhan Open, while

fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Su-wei fell to a shock defeat in her opening doubles match on the hard courts in China.

Sixth seeds Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan took just 62 minutes to complete a comfortable 6-3, 6-2 victory over Anna Blinkova of Russia and Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic.

The Taiwanese duo failed to save the single break point they faced, but converted four of eight, winning 80 percent of points on their first serve and 70 percent on the second to advance to a quarter-final against fourth seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Demi Schuurs of the Netherlands, who defeated Sofia Kenin of the US and Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus 6-4, 3-6, 12-10.

The Taiwanese sisters defeated Groenefeld and Schuurs on the way to two of their four titles this season — in the final in Doha and the round-of-16 in Eastbourne, England — but have also suffered two defeats — the semi-finals in Rome and the round-of-16 in Birmingham, England.
[FULL  STORY]

TOP SEEDS: Hsieh Su-wei will now be concentrating on the doubles along with her parter, Barbora Strycova, who was also beaten in the singles by Simona Halep

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 25, 2019
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter, with AFP, WUHAN, China

Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday exited the Wuhan Open in the second round of the singles after

falling to a straight-sets defeat to Svetlana Kuznetsova, while the Chan sisters continued their winning streak to advance to the second round of the doubles.

World No. 32 Hsieh lost the first set against two-time Grand Slam champion Kuznetsova and, despite a spirited fightback in the second, she succumbed to a 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) defeat in 1 hour, 30 minutes on the hard courts in China.

The Russian saved two of four break points and converted four of eight, winning 73 percent of her second serves to improve her career record over Hsieh to 3-0 in their first match on the WTA Tour since two meetings back in 2013.

Taiwanese sixth seeds Chan Hao-ching and Latisha Chan, fresh from claiming their fourth title of the season at the Pan Pacific Open in Osaka, Japan, on Saturday, took just 67 minutes to complete a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Alison Riske of the US and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia in the first round of the doubles.    [FULL  STORY]

Longdong is Taiwan’s premier outdoor climbing destination

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/09/23
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Rock-climbing enthusiasts have taken it upon themselves to step up safety at the Longdong (龍洞) rock climbing site on the northeast coast of Taiwan and create a bilingual website providing a variety of useful information on the sport in the island nation, according to a statement on the New Taipei Travel website.

Longdong is Taiwan’s premier outdoor climbing area. It offers superb sandstone sport and traditional climbing, according to TaiwanRocks.net.

As there is an inherent risk in rock climbing, Longdong climbers have, over the last 20 years, voluntarily embarked on two programs to improve safety: the Longdong rebolt program and Longdong Rock Climbing site rescue program.

The rebolt program involves monitoring and periodically replacing bolts on the rock faces to prevent falling accidents from happening, the statement said. The rescue program is aimed at supporting rescue operations, with rescue equipment placed around the climbing site and training classes being held to familiarize climbers with the proper rescue techniques.    [FULL  STORY]

GRAND SLAM CHAMPION: There is no letup for the Taiwanese No. 1, as she next faces Svetlana Kuznetsova: ‘Definitely it’s not going to be an easy match,’ she said

Taipei Times
Date: Sep 24, 2019
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter

Hsieh Su-wei yesterday rallied from a set down to upset 13th seed Caroline Wozniacki at the Wuhan

Open, the Taiwanese 33-year-old’s second victory over the former world No. 1 this year.

Fresh off the disappointment of losing the Pan Pacific Open doubles final in Osaka, Japan, with younger sister Hsieh Yu-chieh on Sunday, the Taiwanese No. 1 fought back from 5-1 down in the first set to complete a 6-7 (2/7), 6-1, 6-2 victory in 2 hours, 4 minutes on the hard courts in China.

“The first set was not easy, because I just came from Osaka. I lost early so I was not preparing for singles too much, because I was in the doubles with my sister,” Hsieh told the WTA Web site. “When I came on the court … I was a little bit lost and she was playing good as well. I asked my coach to come on the court and I said: ‘OK, I don’t feel anything. I feel weird.’ And he said: ‘It’s OK, just try to play,’ and I did. I tried to keep playing, and after a couple of games it was going better and better.”

The Kaohsiung native saved eight of 10 break points and converted six of seven, winning 59 percent of her points on second serve to follow up her 6-3, 6-7 (0/7), 6-2 victory over the Dane in Miami in March.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/21
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Ko Lin

Taipei, Sept. 21 (CNA) Taiwanese weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳) on Saturday broke two world

records, winning two gold medals and one silver at the 2019 International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) World Championships in Thailand.

Kuo, who competed in the women's 59kg division, won a gold medal with a clean and jerk of 140 kilograms, breaking her previous world record of 137kg set in April at the 2019 Asian Weightlifting Championships in Ningbo, China.

In the snatch event, Kuo took a silver medal after lifting 106kg in the same division.

She clinched a second gold with the combined lift of 246kg, which again broke her own world record of 243kg set in Ningbo.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/09/20
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Ko Lin

Taipei, Sept. 20 (CNA) Taiwan's Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) is just two matches away from a chance at

winning the China Open title after successfully edging out her Thai opponent in the quarterfinals of the women's singles event in Changzhou, eastern China's Jiangsu province on Friday.

Seeded sixth in the tournament, Tai beat Busanan Ongbamrungphan 21-17, 21-10 in just 33 minutes, in a match played at Changzhou's Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium.

With the win on Friday, the head-to-head record between Tai and Ongbamrungphan now stands at 8-3 in favor of the Taiwanese player.

The two rivals played a finely balanced game in the opening at 10-10, when Tai managed to score four consecutive points to stay in the lead.    [FULL  STORY]