The Taiwanese table tennis duo of Chuang Chih-yuan and Peng Wang-wei on Saturday crashed out of the men’s doubles final at the World Table Tennis Contender Muscat.
Chuang and Peng lost to the Chinese pairing of Lin Shidong and Xiang Peng 3-0 at Sultan Qaboos Sport Complex in Oman’s capital.
The Taiwanese team, led by the 40-year-old Chuang, also known as the “Godfather of Taiwanese table tennis,” fell behind in the opening game 11-7, before rallying to tie the second game 8-8. The comeback was short-lived, as Lin and Xiang unleashed a series of attacks to pocket the second game 11-9.
Photo: CNA
Chuang and Peng fired off four points at the start of the third game, before the Chinese pair took off on a 5-0 run.
Although the Taiwanese found the equalizer, Lin and Xiang caused Peng to make forced errors by hitting the ball close to his body. The strategy allowed them to earn another five points, before Chuang made an error on a return and the Taiwanese conceded the game 11-5.
Chuang and Peng defeated India’s Sathiyan Gnanasekaran and Harmeet Desai 3-2 in the round-of-16 on Wednesday, before defeating the Indian duo of Manush Utpalbhai Shah and Manav Vikash Thakkar 3-1 in the quarter-finals on Thursday.
Jakub Dyjas of Poland and Cedric Nuytinck of Belgium forfeited their semi-final matchup.
The WTT Contender Muscat, held Feb. 27 to Saturday, carried a total purse of US$75,000.
Taiwan’s men’s A team last night defeated their counterpart B team 82-77 in their first showdown in the William Jones Cup at New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang Gymnasium. With four wins under their belt, Taiwan’s A squad — also known as the blue team, consisting of the national team’s main roster — lead the tournament, while Malaysia and the Philippines Strong Group-Pilipinas, who were not scheduled to play last night, are both undefeated with three wins each. Taiwanese-American teenager Robert Hinton, playing in his first William Jones Cup, led the scoring early in the first quarter, putting up nine points for the A
A chance encounter during a drunken night out was the unlikely catalyst for breaker Sunny Choi’s journey to the Paris Olympic Games. The 35-year-old American is to showcase her skills before a global audience in Paris when breaking makes its debut on the Olympic stage. Choi is the beneficiary of efforts to attract younger fans to the Olympics, a move that led to breaking’s inclusion for the first time. However, as Choi says, the Olympics was the last thing on her mind when she took up the sport. A freshman student at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business, Choi stumbled into breaking
Former NFL receiver Jacoby Jones, whose 108-yard kickoff return in 2013 remains the longest touchdown in Super Bowl history, has died at the age of 40. The Houston Texans, Jones’ team for the first five seasons of his career, announced his death on Sunday. In a statement released by the NFL Players Association, his family said he died at his home in New Orleans. A cause of death was not given. Jones played from 2007 to 2015 for the Texans, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers, and he made several huge plays for the Ravens during their most recent Super
Teenage gymnast Shoko Miyata has been pulled from Japan’s team for the Paris Olympics after being caught smoking and drinking, officials said yesterday. The 19-year-old, a world bronze medalist and captain of Japan’s women’s gymnastics team for the Games, was sent home from their training camp in Monaco and admitted she had violated the squad’s code of conduct. “With her confirmation and after discussions on all sides, it has been decided that she will withdraw from the Olympics,” Japan Gymnastics Association (JGA) secretary-general Kenji Nishimura told reporters in Tokyo. Nishimura said the association had been told that Miyata was seen smoking in a