BASKETBALL
Teams pull out of merger
The P.League+’s (PLG) Taipei Fubon Braves, Taoyuan Pilots and Kaohsiung Steelers on Monday withdrew from a proposed merger with the rival T1 League. The decision not to participate in the new professional basketball league was tough, but necessary, the three teams said in a joint statement. They said that their bottom line was that the PLG was to be the main body under the merger, which was the consensus reached at the six-team internal PLG meeting on June 26 and was verbally agreed on by the preparation committee. “We negotiated in good faith to communicate a way to integrate by maintaining the autonomy of the PLG, or to retain the two-league structure with exchanges during match season, but could not reach an agreement,” they said. The three teams are to remain in the PLG and prepare for the new season, striving to protect the people, players, passion, professionalism and principles of the league, they said. The three teams also announced they would be holding an independent draft on Friday. Meanwhile, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung has been appointed president of the newly merged league, the merger preparation committee said. Chuang said that he was honored and would do his best to lead the league to the next level.
BASKETBALL
Taiwan face-off at Jones Cup
Taiwan’s national women’s A team beat Taiwan’s B team 73-53 on the penultimate day of the five-day William Jones Cup in Taipei yesterday. The A team were up 23-9 in the first quarter, and although the B team were close on their heels during the remaining three quarters, they could not erase the deficit. In yesterday’s other games, the Philippines beat Thailand 68-58, despite Thailand’s Sasiporn Wongtapha putting up a leading 18 points, and Japan thrashed Malaysia 84-34, maintaining their spot on top of the table after having won all four of their games.
RUGBY UNION
France players arrested
Two members of the France national rugby team touring South America were on Monday arrested in Argentina following an allegation of sexual assault, a justice official in Mendoza Province said. Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, who featured in France’s 28-13 Test victory over Argentina on Saturday, were detained in Buenos Aires and are to be taken to Mendoza where the crime allegedly took place. “Today a commission from the province of Mendoza is traveling to Buenos Aires to bring them and proceed with doing the relevant examinations,” said Martin Ahumada, a spokesman for the Mendoza prosecutor’s office. “If the examinations align with the testimony of the victim, the related charge will be made,” he said. The alleged attack took place at the Diplomatic Hotel in Mendoza, where France’s players and staff were staying for last weekend’s Test match, local media reports said. “If the facts are proven, they are incredibly serious. You must spare a thought for the young woman,” French Rugby Federation president Florian Grill said. “It’s the opposite of everything that rugby is, of everything that rugby does, of everything that rugby builds... But you must let the investigation, which is necessary, take place.”
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
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
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
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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