Taiwan continued their dominance in this year’s World Port Baseball Tournament with victories over Cuba and Curacao at the Familiestadion in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on Monday to improve to a 4-0 record.
In the day game of the day-night doubleheader, Taiwan humbled defending champions Cuba 3-1 thanks to a brilliant effort by starter Chen Kuan-ju, who went the distance for his team in a two-hit gem to deal the Cuba their second defeat of the tournament.
Other than a leadoff single to Cuba’s Rusney Castillo that led to the lone run in the game for Cuba, the southpaw out of Fu Jen Catholic University was virtually unhittable as he baffled the opposing hitters by changing his speed, with his sliders and changeups working flawlessly to complement his fastball.
“The offspeed pitches really worked well for me today,” Chen said after the game.
Offensively for Taiwan, Lin Han’s three-for-five hitting with an RBI led an attack that rang up nine hits against two hurlers. After being shut down by Cuba starter Yosvani Torres through the fourth, the Taiwanese bats finally came alive in the fifth with a run on three hits off Torres to tie the game at 1-1, before they skidded ahead in the seventh with another run on three more hits to take the lead for good.
“Talk about not having beaten the Netherlands for some time last Friday, I can’t remember ever beating Cuba,” Taiwan head coach Chen Wei-cheng said after the big win.
Curacao 1, Taiwan 7
In the night game of the doubleheader, Taiwan also found themselves trailing 0-1 after six innings of play, before erupting for seven unanswered runs to prevail in a 7-1 triumph.
Taiwan had several opportunities to score through the sixth, but failed to convert on each with runners being gunned down at the plate on two different occasions.
The poor luck finally ended when back-to-back hits by Huang Yi-kuen and Chen Wei-chih helped drive in the tying run in the seventh inning to set up a late-game scoring binge that sealed the win.
Lin Chen-hua entered the game one out into the seventh and he was credited with the win for his 2-2/3 innings of shutout relief, while the loss went to Curacao’s Caroll Servania.
Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen yesterday exited at the BWF World Tour Finals in China, losing in the semi-finals to China’s world No. 1 Shi Yuqi. Shi, who was named the BWF Men’s Singles Player of the Year, had a 9-4 record against Chou going into the match. He extended that record to 9-5 with a 21-14, 21-18 victory. Chou advanced to the men’s singles semi-finals on Friday by upsetting top-seeded Anders Antonsen of Denmark in a must-win match at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium. The 16-21, 21-18, 21-15 victory saw Chou secure his second semi-finals appearance at the tournament, despite his relatively older
‘REMARKABLE’: Gaelic football is a traditional Irish sport that blends the skills of soccer and rugby, and hurling is an ancient sport played with a wooden stick and ‘sliotar’ The Taiwan Celts Gaelic Football Club marked a milestone achievement at the Asian Gaelic Games in Bangkok on Nov. 23 and 24, with two sides advancing to the knockout stages and competing at hurling for the first time. The event brought together 68 teams from 16 clubs across Asia, with more than 800 players in men’s and women’s tournaments. Gaelic football is a traditional Irish team sport that blends the skills of soccer, rugby union and basketball. Hurling is an ancient Irish sport played with a wooden stick, called a hurley, and a small ball, or sliotar. The Taiwan Celts’ women’s team reached
India’s chess star Gukesh Dommaraju returned to a hero’s welcome in his home city yesterday after becoming the youngest world champion aged only 18. Hundreds of fans crowded the arrivals area of Chennai International Airport, cheering alongside banks of television cameras as Gukesh made his way out of the airport after victory in taking the World Chess Championship title. “It means a lot to bring back the trophy to India,” Gukesh told reporters, with garlands of flowers draped around his neck, brandishing the glittering trophy in his hand. “I can see the support and what it means to India, I
LIVERPOOL WIN: The 50th Champions League goal by Mohamed Salah helped the leaders of the Premier League to keep their perfect record intact Real Madrid’s big stars on Tuesday turned on the style to revive the Spanish giant’s faltering UEFA Champions League title defense. Galacticos Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham all scored in a thrilling 3-2 win against Serie A leaders Atalanta BC. However, Madrid still had to ride their luck as Mateo Retegui fired over from in front of goal in stoppage-time when handed a golden chance to level the game. It was only Madrid’s third win in the competition’s revamped league phase and leaves the 15-time champions in the unseeded playoff positions in 18th place. “It’s a very important win. Not everyone wins
RSS