Trainers to catch rare Pokémon and take part in activities at six hotspots around Tainan

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/11/20
By: Sylvia Teng, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The developer of mobile game phenomenon Pokémon GO is hosting a special event Sunday (Nov. 22) in Tainan, where Pokémon trainers can catch featured monsters at six hotspots across the city.

Tainan is one of three cities around the world selected for the Pokémon GO City Spotlight on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The other two cities to hold the event are Auckland, New Zealand, and Busan, South Korea.

With developer Niantic's launch of the one-day event, the participating cities are hoping it will encourage people to go outdoors and boost the local economy. Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-cher (王偉哲) said during a press event last week that all Pokémon GO players are welcomed to catch rare Pokémon as well tour the city and enjoy the local cuisine.

In light of the ongoing pandemic, six areas have been designated as hotspots in order to limit the size of crowds:    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 18, 2020 page16
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Swimmer Eddie Wang of Taiwan on Monday broke the national 200m butterfly short course record for the third time while competing in the semi-finals of the International Swimming League season in Budapest.

The 18-year-old, who is representing the San Francisco-based Cali Condors in the competition, finished second with a time of 1 minute, 49.89 seconds, behind American Tom Shields of the LA Current (1:49.02).

Wang’s two previous national records — 1:50.79 and 1:50.14 — were also set in Budapest, on the league’s opening day on Oct. 17 and on Tuesday last week.

Wang’s coach, Huang Chih-yung, said that the strategy in Monday’s race was for Wang to stay close to Shields the entire race, and he praised the young Taiwanese for his accomplishment.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/08/2020
By: William Yen

Taipei, Nov. 8 (CNA) The Changhua-based Formosa Dreamers stunned the Taipei Fubon Braves Sunday, clinching a 95-87 win in the final game of the "2020 Fubon Cup Braves Basketball Tournament," which is also the second round of P.LEAGUE+ preseason games.

The game was considered one of the highlights of the preseason as both teams represent Taiwan in the regional ASEAN Basketball League which ended its 2019-2020 season early because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Playing in front of a crowd of over 6,600 spectators at Taipei Heping Basketball Gymnasium, the Dreamers found their mark from beyond the arc with 20 baskets from the three-point line, including six from American point guard Anthony Tucker.

Dreamers forward Yang Chin-min (楊敬敏) also made 24 points.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 05, 2020 page16
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

The CPBL drew a capacity crowd of 7,800 yesterday at Tainan Municipal Stadium with the CTBC Brothers, as of press time last night, thrashing hosts the Uni-President Lions 6-1 in the ninth inning and poised to take a 3-1 lead in the Taiwan Series.

The opening inning pitted Lions southpaw Chiang Chen-yen against Brothers right-hander Huang En-shih.

The Brothers opened the scoring in the fourth inning as shortstop Chiang Kun-yu sent up a sacrifice fly to get a run.

One batter later, outfielder Yueh Cheng-hua ripped a bouncer past the third baseman for a double, driving in two runs and giving the club a 3-0 lead.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 11/01/2020
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Nov. 1 (CNA) Taiwanese weightlifter and Olympian bronze medalist Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳) on Sunday set new national records for both the snatch lift and the clean and jerk lift in the women's 71-kilogram class with lifts of a combined 243 kg at the National Intercollegiate Athletic Games (NIAG) in Kaohsiung.

Representing New Taipei-based Fu Jen Catholic University, Kuo, 26, set a new national snatch record with 106 kg and a new record for clean and jerk with 137 kg to clinch a gold medal.

Kuo now holds nine national records in weightlifting in three different weight categories — 59 kg, 64 kg and 71 kg.

Sunday's record-breaking performance also made Kuo the only Taiwanese athlete to have won gold medals in the NIAG's three different classes in women's weightlifting.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 02, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

The CTBC Brothers yesterday leveled the Taiwan Series with a 9-1 victory at home in Taichung, taking an early lead with two home runs from the Yueh brothers, while the Brothers added four late runs to defeat the Uni-President Lions.

Dominican lefty Jose de Paula started Game 2 as pitcher for CTBC, while American Tim Melville was on the mound for the Lions.

Lions batters scored first at the top of the second inning, when Taiwanese-Argentine outfielder Lin An-ko hit a single up the middle, and first baseman Kao Kuo-ching followed with a liner to the right side, to place runners at the corners.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/28/2020
By: Joseph Yeh

Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) Taiwan's chance to win a medal in tennis at the Tokyo Olympics next year if they are held suffered a major blow recently after women's doubles world No. 1 Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) was ruled to be ineligible for the games by the sport's governing body.

The 34-year-old Hsieh dropped the bombshell in a Facebook post earlier this month when she said she had received a notice from the International Tennis Federation (ITF) rejecting her appeal to gain eligibility for next year's Olympics.

In her post, Hsieh said that even though her ranking qualified her for the 2021 games, she was deemed to be ineligible due to "a mistake involving the Fed Cup" held this March.

Hsieh is currently ranked No. 66 in women's singles and No. 1 in women's doubles. Those who rank among the top 56 in singles and top 10 in doubles are eligible to compete in the Tokyo Olympics.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 30, 2020
By: Jason Pan / Staff reporter

Vice President William Lai yesterday visited a Uni-President Lions practice at the Tainan Municipal Stadium, as the team prepare for tomorrow’s Taiwan Series opener against the CTBC Brothers in Taichung.

The former Tainan mayor gave the Lions a pineapple, a symbol of prosperity and good fortune, to wish the team success in the best-of-seven series.

“I have only one request… You must win the championship title,” Lai said.

Lions closer Chen Yun-wen presented Lai with a jersey, featuring the words “Tainan” on the front, on behalf of the team, along with club chairman Tu Chung-cheng and general manager Su Tai-an.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/24/258020
By: Lung Po-an and Kay Liu

Taipei, Oct. 24 (CNA) Cheng I-ching (鄭怡靜), Taiwan's top ranked female table tennis player, is using a game console to try to stay sharp as she sits in quarantine in China ahead of the first 2020 Women's World Cup event since March.

Cheng first arrived Thursday in Shanghai, where she is being quarantined for three days, and will then head to Weihai in Shandong Province and be quarantined for four days before she can begin actual training for the event that opens on Nov. 8.

The world No. 8 in the International Table Tennis Federation's (ITTF's) women's singles rankings bought her first game console, a Nintendo Switch, before leaving for China to pass the time she figured she would be spending alone in a hotel room, Cheng said Friday.

"My friends and I tried the console once when we went to a gym. I thought it was fun and was pretty challenging," Cheng said in explaining why she decided to buy one to train while on her own.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 10/20/2020
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Oct. 20 (CNA) The annual King of the Mountains (KOM) Challenge, the biggest bike race in Taiwan, will be held as usual this month, but only local residents will participate, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, the organizers said Tuesday.

Some 425 cyclists, 103 of them foreign nationals living in Taiwan, have registered to take part in the challenge, the organizers said, noting that registration was 40 percent lower than last year.

Taiwanese professional cyclist Fan Yung-yi (范永奕), who has participated in almost every KOM Challenge since it was launched in 2002, will take part again this year.

Other outstanding cyclists registered to compete this year include frequent KOM winner John Ebsen of Denmark and the 2020 champion of the Yangmingshan Mountain Challenge Christian Trenchev of Bulgaria, both of whom live in Taichung.    [FULL  STORY]