Taiwan struck gold again yesterday at the World Games with Peng Wei-chua taking first prize in the men’s wushu competition while the women also won two silvers.
Peng was the golden boy in the men’s Nanquan and Nangun final as his combined total of 19.60 bested Farshad Arabi of Iran by 0.09 points.
Chen Shao-chi had earlier taken silver in the women’s Taolu Jianshu and Qiangshu with a combined score of 19.42. China’s Ma Lingjuan won the gold scoring 19.76.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Fan Man-yu also finished second behind a Chinese athlete, losing out to Cui Wenjuan (19.77) in the women’s Taolu Taijiquan and Taijijian with a combined score of 19.61. Japan’s Miyaoka Ai took bronze.
As Wushu is an invitational event the medals do not count towards the official tally.
Meanwhile, in the Sanshou section, Taiwan’s Kao Yu-chuan lost to Mariane Mariano of the Philippines.
PHOTO: SAM YEH, AFP
In a busy day for Taiwan in the billiards quarter-finals, men’s gold-medal hope Yang Ching-shun made the last four of the nine-ball event after beating Marcus Chamat of Sweden 11-9, while women’s star Liu Shin-mei went down 9-5 to Great Britain’s Alison Fisher
Also in the women’s competition Chang Shu-han scraped through, beating Line Kjorsvik of Norway 9-8. Lin Yuan-chun, however, made light work of the US’ Vivian Villareal, beating her 9-0 to advance into the last four.
Meanwhile, in the snooker quarter-finals, local interest ended as Wu Yu-lun went out after losing 3-0 to Mohammed Shehab of the United Arab Emirates.
Earlier, Lin Shu-hung had lost 3-1 to David Grace of Great Britain, while Yuan Yung-kuo was also knocked out of the Carom quarterfinals after losing 40-15 to Italy’s Marco Zanetti.
In action at the pool yesterday, the fin swimming saw Taiwan finish last in the final of the men’s 4x100m surface relay, while in the life saving, Taiwan’s Liu Chih-huang finished third in the B final of the men’s 100m manikin saving with fins.
Local interest in the aerobic gymnastics, meanwhile, ended early with mixed pairs duo Lai Wan-chen and Liu Yi-chun failing to make the final.
On the first day of field archery at Cheng Ching Lake, Tien Wen-tsai finished ninth in the men’s barebow first qualifying round, while in the men’s compound qualifying, Wang Chih-hao finished well down the field in 23rd position.
Lung Ting-hsuan, Taiwan’s representative in the men’s recurve, finished ninth out of the 16 competitors after the first day.
In the women’s qualifying, Taiwan’s Lin Mei-ying and Huang I-jou were near the bottom after day one in the barebow and compound events, but Huang Cheng-an finished fifth.
In waterskiing, Liao Chun-yi failed to qualify from the women’s barefoot tricks preliminary round, while for the men, Lin Hao-ting and Kan Chun-yu also failed to make the grade in the men’s wakeboard.
The inline hockey team suffered more disappointment, losing to Italy (4-0) and France (8-0) in yesterday’s round robin qualifiers.
■RUGBY ROUNDUP
BY RICHARD HAZELDINE
STAFF REPORTER, IN KAOHSIUNG
Taiwan pulled off a surprise victory in rugby sevens at the World Games yesterday, beating the US 22-17.
No one at the Main Stadium expected the result, not least the crowd, after Taiwan had been mauled 29-0 by South Africa in their opening Pool A game.
But Taiwan stated their intentions from the first whistle, keeping the ball well in the wet conditions as they ran tirelessly at the US line.
That running paid off when Chen Chih-fen went over the line following a great passing move that started back in their own half to take a 5-0 lead after the conversion was missed.
The US hit back with 55 seconds left in the first half, No. 2 Blaine Scully going over for an unconverted try that leveled the score, but Taiwan hit back almost straight from the kick-off as Wang Kuo-feng handed off three US tackles on a 50m run to the try line to give Taiwan a 10-5 half-time lead.
Taiwan then increased that lead, much to the sizable crowd’s delight early in the second half as a breakaway saw No. 6 Chu Chih-wei follow up to force his way over the line for the score, which he then converted for a 17-5 lead.
Then straight from the kick off Wang Jen-hsi sent the crowd delirious as he scored in the corner to make it 22-5 with four minutes left.
The US then mounted a comeback with two late tries — one converted — but it was too late as the buzzer sounded to give Taiwan a famous victory.
Unfortunately, they could not maintain the level as they slipped to a 19-5 defeat against Portugal in the final game of the day.
The results left Taiwan in third place in Pool A, with South Africa top after three wins out of three. Portugal were second and the US were last after three defeats.
In Pool B, Argentina finished top after beating Fiji, Japan and Hong Kong. Fiji were second with two victories, ahead of Japan (W1, L2) and Hong Kong (W0, L3).
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and partner Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia yesterday advanced to the women’s doubles final at the Australian Open after defeating New Zealand’s Erin Routliffe and Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada 7-6 (7/3), 3-6, 6-3 in their semi-final. Hsieh has won nine Grand Slam doubles titles and has a shot at a 10th tomorrow, when the Latvian-Taiwanese duo are to play Taylor Townsend of the US and Katerina Siniakova of the Czech Republic in the championship match at the A$96.5 million (US$61 million) outdoor hard court tournament at Melbourne Park. Townsend and Siniakova eliminated Russian pair Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva 6-7
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
Things are somewhat out of control at the Australian Open this year, and that has only a little to do with the results on the courts. Yes, there were some upsets, including Madison Keys eliminating No. 2 Iga Swiatek in the women’s singles semi-finals on Thursday. It also was the first time since 1990 that three teenagers beat top-10 men’s seeds at a Grand Slam tennis tournament. The loser of one of those matches, Daniil Medvedev, got fined US$76,000 for behaving badly. Last year’s women’s singles runner-up exited in the first round. However, the real fuss is happening elsewhere. The rowdy fans, for one
RSS