Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/16
By: Lung Po-an and Chi Jo-yao

Taipei, Nov. 16 (CNA) Taiwanese weightlifter Lin Tzu-chi (林子琦), a former world

record holder and Asian Games gold medalist, has been banned from competition for eight years and stripped of all medals, prizes and titles earned since 2016 for a doping offence, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) announced Thursday.

Lin had been banned for two years by the Anti-Doping Commission of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee (CTOC) after she failed a steroids test in 2016 just before the Rio Summer Olympics.

However, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) appealed the ruling, saying it was the second time that Lin had violated the anti-doping rules and she should be banned for eight years.

The CAS upheld the WADA’s appeal and imposed an eight-year ban on the 30-year-old weightlifter with effect from Nov. 14, which could end her career in that field.
[FULL  STORY]

The News Lens
Date: Nov 16, 2018
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter

Rising Taiwanese tennis star Liang En-shou yesterday cruised into the quarter-finals

of the Taipei OEC Open, while Thai second seed Luksika Kumkhum also advanced at the Taipei Arena.

Liang, the 18-year-old reigning Australian Open girls’ singles champion, defeated Greek world No. 160 Valentini Grammatikopoulou 6-3, 6-1 in just 58 minutes.

The Taiwanese world No. 276 saved the only break point she faced and converted four of eight, winning 61 of the 103 points contested to ease into the quarter-finals at the WTA 125k event.

Liang next faces German wild-card Sabine Lisicki, after the world No. 262 ousted Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour, 19 minutes.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 15, 2018
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter

Teenager Liang En-shou yesterday fought back from a set down to advance to the

second round of the singles at the Taipei OEC Open, but it was not such a good day for her fellow Taiwanese in the doubles.

World No. 276 Liang, who won the Australian Open girls’ singles title in January, defeated Austrian world No. 224 Barbara Haas 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 in 1 hour, 35 minutes at the Taipei Arena.

The Taiwanese 18-year-old saved five of seven break points and converted five of 11, winning 87 of the 159 points contested to advance to a second-round clash with Greek world No. 160 Valentini Grammatikopoulou, who defeated lucky loser Ng Kwanyau of Hong Kong 6-2, 6-2.

German wild-card Sabine Lisicki stunned Japanese eighth seed Misaki Doi 6-3, 6-2 in just 54 minutes in their first-round match.    [FULL  STORY]

A Taiwanese doubles team upset No. 1 seed at the WTA 125K series OCE Taipei Open on Tuesday

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/11/13
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—A Taiwanese doubles team upset No. 1 seed at the WTA 125K series OCE Taipei Open on Tuesday.

Taiwan’s Liang En-shuo and Lee Ya-hsuan beat Japan’s Nao Hibina and Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia in the first round of the doubles competition.

It’s the first time Liang and Lee teamed up for a doubles event, and they hadn’t even practice together before, reports said. The Taiwanese duo came back from a 0-2 deficit in the beginning to win the first set, 6-4, and then sealed the victory by cruising to a 6-2 win in the second set.

The top international women tennis event in Taiwan was first upgraded from a top-tier ITF Women’s Circuit events to a WTA 125K Series event in 2012. With US$115,000 in on-site prize money, WTA 125K Series events award the champion 160 ranking points.    [FULL  STORY]

STUNNER: Taiwan’s Lee Ya-hsuan and Liang En-shou took just 63 minutes to clinch a comprehensive 6-4, 6-2 victory over the favorites on the hard courts at the Taipei Arena

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 14, 2018
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan’s Lee Ya-hsuan and Liang En-shou yesterday stunned top seeds

Nao Hibino of Japan and Oksana Kalashnikova of Georgia in the first round of the doubles at the Taipei OEC Open, while English-Taiwanese teenager Joanna Garland crashed out in the first round of the singles.

Lee and 18-year-old Liang, who won the girls’ singles at the Australian Open in January, took just 63 minutes to complete a comprehensive 6-4, 6-2 victory over the favorites at the Taipei Arena.

The Taiwanese duo saved 11 of 13 break points and converted five of eight, winning 60 of the 110 points contested, despite sending down four double faults.

In the quarter-finals, Lee and Liang face either Lizette Cabrera of Australia and Elena-Gabriela Ruse or Indian pairing Ankita Raina and Karman Thandi, who are due to play their first-round match today.   [FULL  STORY]

The tournament will allow SadStory to play, but they will be designated under the ‘Greater China’ subregion for all future events

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/11/10
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Earlier this week, on Nov. 7, it was reported that a Taiwanese team of Esports competitors who had qualified for a regional Counter Strike: global Offensive (CS:GO) tournament were disqualified because of a “regional belonging issue.”

The excuse was that the Taiwanese team, SadStory, had failed to register in the “Greater China” region, and had instead registered and qualified for the East Asian Region.

Several days after the sudden disqualification, SadStory has been allowed to rejoin the Intel Extreme Masters Katowice 2019 Asia Minor’s qualifiers tournament, reports HKFP. However, they will be forced to participate in the “Greater China” region.

As previously reported, CrazyFace, a member of SadStory said in a Facebook post that the team considered entering the China region in the past, but chose otherwise as they hold Taiwanese passports.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/12
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Ko Lin

Taipei, Nov. 12 (CNA) Taiwanese athlete Lin Wan-ting (林琬婷) took the

bronze medal Monday in the women’s under-46 kilogram division in the World Taekwondo President’s Cup G2 Asian Region tournament in Taipei.

The medal win marked Lin’s return to the podium after a series of lackluster performances by the Taiwanese, who have barely made it through the first rounds of the World Taekwondo Grand Prix events in Rome, Moscow and Taoyuan since June.

“My last medal was won at the National Intercollegiate Athletic Games,” Lin said.

The 22-year-old said the victory was a relief for her after she had come away empty in the past six months since the intercollegiate games, held from the end of April through early May.    [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: Nov 13, 2018
By: Dave Carroll  /  Staff reporter

Lee Ya-hsuan yesterday failed to make it into the main draw of the Taipei

OEC Open, while fellow Taiwanese Hsieh Shu-ying crashed out of the first round of the doubles at the Taipei Arena.

World No. 268 Lee fell to a 6-3, 6-0 defeat to Czech world No. 212 Tereza Martincova in 55 minutes in the final round of qualifiers for the WTA Tour 125k series tournament.

Martincova sent down four aces, saved one of two break points and converted five of seven, winning 60 of the 95 points contested to oust the Taiwanese 23-year-old and set up a first-round clash with Romania’s Elena-Gabriela Ruse, who defeated Olga Doroshina of Russia 7-5, 7-5 in 1 hour, 44 minutes.

Also advancing from the qualifiers yesterday were Zhang Yuxuan, who faces fellow Chinese Lu Jiajing in the first round, and South Korea’s Jang Su-jeong, who set up a first-round encounter with Susanne Celik of Sweden.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/11/11
By: Lung Po-an and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, Nov. 11 (CNA) Taiwanese badminton ace Chou Tien-chen (周天成)

again fell short of his fourth title of the year when he lost to Kento Momota of Japan on Sunday and had to settle for a silver medal in the men’s singles at the Fuzhou China Open.

World No. 3 Chou battled for 66 minutes against Momota in their sixth face-off of the season, but eventually lost 13-21, 21-11, 16-21 to the World No. 1 men’s singles player.

In a closely fought match, the two players were tied at 6-6 at one point in the final game but Momota managed to prevail with a score of 20-15 to pick up his seventh title of the year.

The Fuzhou China Open, which has a purse of US$700,000, is a BWF World Tour Grade 2 Level 3 tournament.    [FULL  STORY]