A tug-of-war team from the Taipei Jingmei Girls High School won the World Indoor Championship in Cesenatico, Italy, on Saturday, thanks to the success of the athletes’ strenuous efforts to train and bulk up over the past several months.
The Jingmei team beat teams from China, Japan and Switzerland in three rounds of competition to capture the 540kg category title.
The team secured a landslide in the first phase of the round-robin competition and defeated the Swiss squad in the second stage of the contest to enter the finals with a score of 2-0.
In the best-of-three final, Jingmei lost their first match to a formidable Chinese team, but they bounced back to win the following two matches and clinch the title.
Jingmei school principal Lin Li-hua said yesterday that she was proud of the team’s determination and sporting prowess.
“The whole team endured hardship and overcame many obstacles to qualify for the competition and eventually emerge as the winners,” Lin said.
“Members of the team were very thrilled and cried after they won the championship in Italy and those of us who were back in Taiwan, we cried too,” Lin said.
Because the Sports Affairs Council (SAC) would only subsidize teams for the 540kg competition, the 12 team members had been piling on the kilos to gain enough weight to qualify over the past few months, in addition to doing intense physical training.
The team managed to increase their combined weight by 60kg to qualify for the competition, Lin said, adding that one member gained 20kg.
Moreover, the school’s parents association and the teachers donated more than NT$500,000 to help finance the travel costs of the team. Government regulations stated the SAC would only finance travel for eight members of the team.
Lin said the squad would undergo a weight-loss program upon their return tomorrow in order to qualify for a 500kg competition at the Asian Cup on Sunday.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY FLORA WANG
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
SEMI-FINAL SWEEP: Taiwanese are to take up all four berths in the men’s doubles semi-finals, while three Taiwanese women’s doubles pairings secured spots Taiwan’s badminton ace Chou Tien-chen stayed hot as he secured a semi-final berth in the men’s singles at the US Open at Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Friday. Chou entered the Super 300 tournament as the top seed and breezed past Victor Lai of Canada 21-19, 21-8 in 37 minutes, advancing to the semi-finals for the second straight tournament. Earlier this month, the 35-year-old veteran finished runner-up at the Indonesia Open, becoming the oldest male shuttler to reach a Super 1000-level final. He was set to face Ayush Shetty of India last night after press time for a spot in the final. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Taiwanese
Spain are the favorites to win the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, but star player Aitana Bonmati’s illness ahead of the tournament raises another question mark around a side which, despite their obvious quality, are not unstoppable. Having claimed the last two Ballon d’Or awards, Barcelona midfielder Bonmati is the game’s biggest star at present, so her absence in the final days before the start of Euro 2025 is a major setback. The 27-year-old came down with a fever in training last week, and was subsequently hospitalized and diagnosed with viral meningitis. Bonmati was discharged on Sunday and joined up with
RSS