FINALS RACE: Alexander Zverev booked a spot in the ATP Finals by reaching the last four in Shanghai, where he is to face fellow Finals qualifier Novak Djokovic

Taipei Times
Date: Oct 13, 2018
By: Reuters, with staff writer

Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the Tianjin Open semi-finals in China, after

Belgian Elise Mertens retired at 6-2, 4-0.

Mertens cited a right arm injury for stopping the match.

The fifth seed is next to face Caroline Garcia of France after her sixth-seeded opponent, Croatian Petra Martic, retired trailing 6-2, 1-0.

Meanwhile, top seed Karolina Pliskova overcame a slow start to put away Britain’s Katie Boulter 5-7, 6-0, 6-3, improving her chances of qualifying for the WTA Finals in Singapore.

Pliskova, currently eighth in the Race to Singapore standings, is battling for one of the three available spots in the season-ending tournament starting on Oct. 21
[FULL  STORY]

The East Rift Valley National Scenic Area Administration will hold East Bay Cycling Challenge series cycling events on Nov 10 and 11 to offer participants the opportunity to experience the beauty of Taiwan’s East Coast and East Rift Valley

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/10/10
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—The East Rift Valley National Scenic Area Administration of Taiwan’s Tourism Bureau will hold the East Bay Cycling Challenge series cycling events on Nov. 10 and 11 to offer participants the opportunity to experience the beauty of Taiwan’s East Coast and East Rift Valley in organized events, according to the Tourism Bureau.

The bureau said the events are divided into the 300 kilometer two-day event for recreational cyclists and the 236 km two-day event for elite cyclists.

Both the 300 km and 236 km events will start from Liyu Lake (鯉魚潭).

With regard to the 300k event, the first day 155k route from Liyu Lake to Guanshan Township will mainly cover the East Rift Valley, and the second day 160k route from Guanshan to Qixingtan Beach (七星潭) for the most part will go north along the coast of Hualien County.      [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/11
By: Hsieh Ching-wen and Flor Wang

Buenos Aires, Oct. 10 (CNA) Taiwanese athletes won a gold and a silver medal at the

2018 Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina Wednesday — the first medals for Taiwanese athletes at the international sports events.

Liu Li-ling (劉俐伶), who was part of the Judo mix Beijing team in the 78 kilogram category, won gold after defeating Rose Christie Pretorius of the mix Athens team 4-3 in the final.   [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/10
By: Hsieh Ching-wen and Elizabeth Hsu 

Buenos Aires, Argentina, Oct. 9 (CNA) Taiwanese Lin Yun-ju (林昀儒) defeated a Greek opponent Tuesday to reach the semifinals of the boys’ singles table tennis tournament at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games, putting him in position to win a medal.

The 17-year-old Lin rebounded quickly after losing the first game to overwhelm Inoannis Sgouropoulos 6-11, 11-6, 11-4, 11-6, 11-5.

Lin will play 15-year-old Tomokazu Harimoto of Japan, the eighth-ranked player in the world in the men’s table tennis rankings, in the semifinals later Wednesday.

Meanwhile, tennis player Tseng Chun-hsin (曾俊欣) of Taiwan beat Chinese Mu Tao 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 on Tuesday to advance to the quarterfinals of the boys’ singles tennis event.
[FULL  STORY]

Taiwan News  
Date: 2018/10/09
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) has voted Taiwanese

tennis superstar Hsieh Su-wei (謝淑薇) at their hot shot of the month for September.

The 32 year old Taiwanese athlete recently emerged as 2018 WTA champion in Hiroshima, Japan, winning her third WTA title, and the first in the past six years of competition.

Hsieh defeated 17-year-old American qualifier Amanda Anisimova 6-2, 6-2 in 58 minutes in the final of the Hana-Cupid Japan Women’s Open on Sept. 16.

Every month the WTA selects a “hot shot” based on exceptional shots made during previous month’s competition.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/10/09
By: Lung Po-an and Ko Lin 

Jakarta, Oct. 9 (CNA) Taiwanese athlete Lee Chia-chieh (李佳婕) finished first Tuesday in the final of the women’s singles tenpin bowling competition at the 2018 Asian Para Games in Indonesia, snagging Taiwan’s first gold medal at the regional sports event.

She finished with a total of 1,023 pins, besting Wong Mei-lan of Hong Kong (943 pins) and Malaysian Ruzila Mustafa (925 pins) to win gold.

Lee, who is paralyzed from the waist down, said she was extremely satisfied with the results and was glad that her tenacious training had ended on a high note.

“Sometimes I feel bad that I spend more time hugging the bowling ball than I do my husband,” she said, thanking him and her family for being very supportive of her passion for bowling.    [FULL  STORY]

Amateur Wu Chia-yen (吳佳晏) became the youngest LPGA of Taiwan event champion at 14 years and six months old by winning the 2018 Party Golfer Ladies Open on Friday

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/10/08
By: George Liao, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Amateur Wu Chia-yen (吳佳晏) became the youngest LPGA of Taiwan event champion at 14 years and six months old when she won the 2018 Party Golfer Ladies Open by one stroke on Friday.

So far this year three amateurs have overshadowed the professionals on the TLPGA tour.

Wu’s victory came on the heel of another amateur Lu Hsin-yu, who outperformed tour professionals at Kenda Tire TLPGA Open in late September. Hou Yu -chiang, another amateur, stole the show at southern Taiwan in May by winning at TLPGA Ladies Open – Nan Pao.

Starting the final round with a 5-stroke lead, Wu shot a one-under-par, 71, on Friday. Wu was being chased by Taiwanese professional golfer Babe Liu (劉依貞), who birdied eight holes on the final day to post that day’s lowest score, 64, tying her own personal best record, according to media reports.    [FULL  STORY]

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

Starting pitcher Ryan Verdugo made history yesterday for the Uni-President Lions when

he pitched the first and only perfect game in Taiwanese professional baseball history against the Brothers Baseball Club at the Lions’ home park in Tainan.

Verdugo, a native of Pasadena, California, mowed down all 27 batters faced in the 1-0 victory, without issuing a walk and without the Lions fielders committing any errors.

The lefty, who had a stint with the Kansas City Royals in 2012, threw 92 pitches to get eight strikeouts, with no hits, no errors and no runs yielded on the night, giving him an 8-4 record in 26 starts and an ERA of 4.31.

The game was a tightrope thriller that remained scoreless on both sides into the ninth inning.

At the bottom of the ninth, Lions third baseman Kuo Fu-lin faced Brothers reliever Yang Chih-lung with the contest still nil-nil.    [FULL  STORY]