Taiwan News
Date: 2018/12/18
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s golf legend and former world No. 1 Yani Tseng (曾雅妮), who has gone nearly six years without a title, said Tuesday that she is planning on selling her luxury house in Orlando, Florida, wishing a real estate transaction will bring her good luck and take her career to new heights, a Central News Agency (CNA) reported.

In 2009, Tseng bought the Orlando house from Sweden’s former world No. 1 player who has retired from the LPGA tour, Annika Sorenstam, for US$2.1 million.

The lot on which the four-room house sits has an area of 5,400 square meters, and there is a trophy display shelf in one of the rooms, the report said. Tseng once said she would fill the shelf with championship trophies, according to the report.

Taiwan’s biggest name in golf told reporters Tuesday, “My friend’s elderly family members said Sorenstam had used up all the good luck the house could have brought to its owner.”
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/14
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Ko Lin

Taipei, Dec. 14 (CNA) Taiwanese badminton ace Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) withdrew from the

Badminton World Federation (BWF) World Tour Finals in China after walking off with an injury on Friday.

Tai retired shortly after losing the first game to Japan’s Akane Yamaguchi 17-21 in her third Group A match of women’s singles played at the Tianhe Gymnasium in Guangzhou city.

She was on track to take home her third World Tour Finals title in China, following her successful victories in 2014 and 2016.

Tai did not reveal the nature of the injury or how it occurred.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/12
By: Lung Po-an and Elizabeth Hs

Taipei, Dec. 12 (CNA) World top-ranked badminton player Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) of Taiwan

beat her Chinese American rival in two straight games in her first match of the World Tour Finals organized by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) in Guangzhou, China Wednesday.

Tai knocked out Zhang Beiwen 21-15 and 21-17 in the 30-minute match, winning her a ticket to the next round of the BWF year-end event, which is being held in the southern Chinese city Dec. 12-16 with a purse of US$1.5 million.

The 24-year-old Tai has had a generally successful season this year with eight champion trophies and two silver medals in women’s singles in BWF tournaments. She also won Taiwan’s first gold medal in the badminton women’s singles event of the 2018 Asian Games in Indonesia.

Moreover, she set a new record for ranking points in a 52-week period, racking up 101,667 points to beat the 101,644 held by China’s Li Xuerui for 2014.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/12
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Dec. 12 (CNA) Taiwanese artistic gymnast Lee Chih-kai (李智凱) and badminton

ace Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) received the 2018 Taiwan Sports Elite Awards for best male and female athlete, respectively, in Taipei on Wednesday.

The world No. 1 boys’ tennis player, 17-year-old Tseng Chun-hsin (曾俊欣), was named best new athlete, while gymnastics coach Lin Yu-hsin (林育信) won the best coach title at the awards, which are presented annually by the Ministry of Education Sports Administration.

It was Tseng’s second award in two days, having won the annual junior world champion award presented by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) on Tuesday.

Lee clinched a gold medal in the men’s pommel horse event at the Artistic Gymnastics World Cup series tournament in Cottbus, Germany, last month and won another gold at Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games in August.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/11
By: Lung Po-an and William Yen

Taipei, Dec. 11 (CNA) Taiwan’s world No. 1 boys’ tennis player, 17-year-old Tseng Chun-hsin (曾俊欣), has been honored with a 2018 International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Champion award, according to a statement released Tuesday by the federation.

Established in 1978 as one of the biggest tennis honors, ITF’s annual junior world champion award was secured by Tseng for his stellar performance this season that made him the first Taiwanese ever to receive the award since Yang Tsung-hua (楊宗樺) won a decade ago.

Tseng won back-to-back Grand Slam titles — the Roland Garros Junior French Championships and the Wimbledon Junior Championships, to finish the year at No. 1 in the boys junior rankings, the ITF website said.

“It is an amazing feeling to finish the year as world No. 1 and ITF World Champion,” he said adding that “I think I had a really good year. Winning the Wimbledon and Roland Garros boys’ singles titles are some of the best moments I have experienced so far.”
[FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 10, 2018
By: Staff writer, with CNA

Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying has been nominated by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) for

Female Player of the Year, the BWF Web site announced on Friday.

China’s Huang Yaqiong and Japan’s women’s doubles pairing, Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota, have also been nominated for the prestigious award, which is to be presented today at the BWF’s annual gala dinner in Guangzhou, China.

Ranked the world No. 1 female player, Tai won women’s singles titles at eight tournaments: the Indonesia Masters, All England Open, Badminton Asia Championships, Malaysia Open, Indonesia Open, Asian Games, Chinese Open and Denmark Open.

Except for two weeks in April, she has been at the top of the world rankings since Dec. 1, 2016.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/12/08
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Romulo Huang

Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) Taiwanese Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) has been nominated for the

Badminton World Federation’s (BWF’s) female player of the year, according to a statement posted on the BWF website Friday.

Chinese player Huang Yaqiong and Japanese women’s doubles pair Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota have also been nominated for the prestigious award, which will be presented at the BWF’s annual Gala Dinner on Dec. 10 in Guangzhou, China.

Ranked the No. 1 female player in the world, Tai has won women’s singles titles at the Indonesia Masters, All England Open, Badminton Asia Championships, Malaysia Open, Indonesia Open, Asian Games, Chinese Open, and Denmark Open.

She has been at the top of the world rankings since Dec. 1, 2016, except for two weeks in April this year.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 08, 2018
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

Star baseballer Wang Po-jung is taking his game to Japan next year after signing with the

Hokkaido Nippon-Ham Fighters in a massive NT$124 million (US$4.02 million) three-year deal announced yesterday.

The Lamigo Monkeys outfielder became the first player signed under a posting system worked out between baseball authorities in Taiwan and Japan.

A posting system allows teams to submit bids in an attempt to win exclusive rights to negotiate with a player.

Wang’s deal could be worth up to NT$180 million when performance bonuses are considered and it has an option for a one-year extension, according to information provided by his agent, PCG Bros Sports Management.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/28
By: Yang Ming-chu and Flor Wang

Tokyo, Nov. 28 (CNA) International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas

Bach said Wednesday he welcomes Taiwan to continue to take part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics under the name “Chinese Taipei” after a referendum in Taiwan to apply for a name change was rejected.

Bach made the comment before attending an IOC Executive Board meeting after being asked by CNA for his reaction to the result of the referendum, which asked: “Do you agree that Taiwan should apply to participate in all international sporting events and the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, using the name ‘Taiwan’?”

The question was defeated by a 55-45 percent margin among valid votes cast, with 5.77 million voters opposing it against 4.76 million voters who supported it.

Taiwan has taken part in all editions of the Olympic Games under the name “Chinese Taipei” since 1984 after China refused to allow Taiwan to participate officially as the Republic of China (ROC) in the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal.
[FULL  STORY]