Most of Taiwan’s Olympic medalists trained at Kaohsiung’s National Sports Training Center

Taiwan News    
Date: 2019/03/24 
By: Taiwan Today,Agencies

TAIPEI (Taiwan Today) — Taiwan has won five gold, seven silver and 12 bronze medals at the Olympics Games on top of 85 golds at the Asian Games. For the vast majority of the athletes who bagged these prizes, the journey to elite international honors began at the National Sports Training Center in the southern city of Kaohsiung.

Formally established in November 1976, the NSTC is funded and overseen by the Sports Administration under the Ministry of Education. Initially spanning 15 hectares, the site in Kaohsiung’s Zuoying District has since been expanded to 22. Top athletes and coaches in a wide range of disciplines, from archery and table tennis to volleyball and weightlifting, are selected from across Taiwan and gather at the center to prepare for major overseas competitions.

All of the country’s Olympic gold medalists trained at the facility ahead of their victories, including Chen Shih-hsin and Chu Mu-yen, the first Taiwan athletes to win such honors. They earned their titles at the 2004 Athens Olympics in taekwondo.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News    
Date: 2019/03/24 
By:  Central News Agency

Taiwan tennis ace Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) stunned top-seeded Japanese star Naomi Osaka at the Miami Open on Saturday (local time) to advance to the round of 16 in the women’s singles draw.

The 27th-seeded Hsieh raised her fist and broke into tears after she beat the world No. 1 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-3 in a 2 hour and 18 minute match.

It was Hsieh’s fourth victory over a top-five player in the last 14 months and avenged a defeat to Osaka at the Australian Open earlier this year in which Hsieh had her Japanese opponent on the ropes before falling in three sets.

“It was very tough because last time I give [Osaka a] lot of double-faults,” Hsieh said, according to the WTA’s website. “This time, I’m thinking, ‘Okay, I try to put more balls in,’ and I do good.”
“Last time, I think she tried to change the rhythm on the match,” Hsieh said. “This time I tried to focus on myself more. I know I [was] leading a lot last time and I lose the match. I was thinking, no matter what happens, I focus [on] what I need to do, then I try. I did it.”
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/24
By: Joseph Yeh) 

Taipei, March 24 (CNA) Taiwan’s national football team lost to the visiting Solomon Islands 1-0 in an international friendly Sunday in the first match played by the diplomatic allies in 20 years.

The visitors from the Pacific island nation, one of Taiwan’s 17 diplomatic allies worldwide, scored the only goal of the game in the 41st minute when captain Benjamin Totori converted a penalty.

Taiwan made several runs toward the Solomon Islands goal in the second half in search of an equalizer, but came up short.

Taiwan is currently ranked 124th in the FIFA world rankings, while the Solomon Islands is ranked 143rd.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date; Mar 25, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan’s national soccer team were handed a bitter 0-1 defeat as visitors the Solomon

Islands turned a successful penalty shot in the first half into an international friendly victory at the Taipei Municipal Stadium yesterday.

Taiwan’s frontline attackers — Li Mao, Chen Hao-wei and Onur Dogan — started the game with solid passing, solidly pressuring the Solomon Islands side.

Splitting the opposition defense in the 15th minute, Dogan hit a low shot into the net — as the more than 2,000 home fans roared — only to have the linesman flag Taiwan for offside and annul the goal.

In the 40th minute, Taiwan defender Wang Ruei was marking Solomon Islands forward Joses Nawo on the edge of the box, when Nawo was brushed in the back by Wang and tumbled in a heap.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 22, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Taiwan’s first female baseball umpire-in-chief, Liu Po-chun, on Tuesday in New York

received the International Olympic Committee’s 2019 Women and Sport World Award.

Liu won the World Trophy because of her staunch advocacy for female empowerment through sport, the committee said.

Throughout her sports career, she has not been deterred by gender discrimination, the committee said on its Web site.

“It has not been an easy road, but her determination saw her go from being a volunteer in the little league to becoming the first female baseball umpire in her native Chinese Taipei,” it said.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/03/20
By: Sie Jing-wun and Chung Yu-chen

Taipei, March 20 (CNA) Taiwan’s first female baseball umpire-in-chief Liu Po-chun (劉柏

君) on Tuesday received the “2019 Women and Sport World Award,” which was granted in New York by the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Liu won the World Trophy because of her staunch advocacy for female empowerment through sport, the IOC said.

Throughout her sports career, she has not been deterred by gender discrimination, the IOC said on its website.

“It has not been an easy road,” the IOC said. “But her determination saw her go from being a volunteer in the Little League to becoming the first female baseball umpire in her native Chinese Taipei.”    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 18, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

In a Taipei version of “March Madness” basketball yesterday, Nanshan High School clinched the High School Basketball League (HBL) women’s division title, while Neng Ren Vocational High School secured the men’s division title.

The ever-popular sports tournament drew a capacity crowd to Taipei Arena — even President Tsai Ing-wen watched the women’s final with about 15,000 other spectators.

Tsai was joined courtside by Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung and Sports Development Committee deputy convenor Yu Cheng-hsien to see New Taipei City’s Nanshan High School edge out Tainan’s Yong Ren High School 65-61 to become HBL champions.

Afterward, Tsai posed for photographs with Nanshan players as part of the post-game celebration.    [FULL  STORY]

On Sunday morning,traffic into the area surrounding Taipei City Hall and the whole Ren’ai Road will not be permitted
 
Taiwan News   
Date: 2019/03/13 
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The 2019 Tour de Taiwan, a 723-km-long cycle race across Taiwan with five stages this year, will take place over 5 days from March 17 to March 21, with each day completing a stage.

The Tour de Taiwan is an annual professional stage race of road bicycle racing held since 1978, as part of the UCI Asia Tour. It was classed as a 2.1 category race for the first time in 2012.

The first stage of the nation’s premier professional cycling race is a flat 83.2 km circuit race in Taipei City that consists of several laps between Taipei City Hall and the Jingfu Gate.

The second to fifth stages will take place in Taoyuan City, along the Taiwan Romantic Route, in Nantou County, and Pingtung County, respectively. The Taiwan Romantic Route covers parts of Hsinchu County, Miaoli County, and Taichung City.    [FULL  STORY]