Javelin thrower Liu Ya-ting and table tennis player Chen Po-yen on Wednesday carried the flag for Taiwan at the opening ceremony of the Paris Paralympics.
They were joined at the ceremony by 10 other Taiwanese athletes, including 48-year-old table tennis veteran Cheng Ming-chih, who is making his third appearance at the Paralympics after Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021.
Liu, competing in the women’s javelin, told reporters that she was excited about participating in the opening ceremony as a flagbearer with 17-year-old paddler Chen, the youngest athlete on the team.
Photo: AFP / OIS/ IOC
Taiwan sent 13 athletes to Paris in seven disciplines — badminton, judo, table tennis, powerlifting, athletics, archery and taekwondo.
The athletes took the stage at Place de la Concorde after Syria.
More than 5,000 athletes from 168 countries participated in the opening event, which had about 50,000 spectators.
Photo courtesy of the Sports Administration
During its live broadcast, the host of the French public national television channel France 2 described the flag carried by Taiwan’s athletes as being of “Chinese Taipei, but it is Taiwan.”
President William Lai yesterday voiced his support for the nation’s athletes in Paris, writing on Facebook: “Taiwan is proud of you all.”
People should cheer for the Taiwanese Paralympic heroes, he wrote, adding that he has faith the athletes would give their all.
Photo: Reuters
On the first day of competition yesterday, Hu Guang-chiou and Yang I-chen lost their opening badminton match in Group B of the women’s doubles WH1-WH2, beaten 21-10, 21-19 by Switzerland’s Cynthia Sui Mathez and Ilaria Renggli at La Chapelle Arena.
In Group B of the men’s singles SU5, Fang Jen-yu lost 21-14, 21-18 against Malaysia’s Muhammad Fareez Mas Anuar.
Cai Yi-lin was to play China’s Lin Shuangbao in Group A of the women’s singles SH6 after press time last night.
In taekwondo, Taiwan’s Xiao Xiang-wen beat Ebrahim Danishi of Afghanistan 37-7 in their men’s K44 under-58kg round-of-16 bout at the Grand Palais.
In the quarter-finals, Xiao defeated Bopha Kong of France 22-1 to earn a spot in the semi-finals against Asaf Yasur of Israel after press time last night.
Taiwan kept their hopes of advancing to next year’s World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Saturday, backed by solid pitching. Taiwan last night played against Nicaragua. As of press time, Nicaragua was leading 6-0. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan on Saturday kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen struck out one and allowed no hits, except for a hit-by-pitch over
Taiwan kept its hopes of advancing to the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC) alive with a 9-1 victory over South Africa in a qualifier at the Taipei Dome last night, backed by solid pitching. Bouncing back from Friday’s struggles on the mound, when Taiwanese pitchers surrendered 15 runs to Spain, Team Taiwan kept the visiting team in check, allowing just one run in the bottom of the fourth inning. The win was crucial for Taiwan, as a loss would have eliminated the team from contention for the next WBC. Starting pitcher Sha Tzu-chen (沙子宸) struck out one and allowed no hits, except for
Team Taiwan are set to face Spain in a win-or-go-home match tonight for the final berth at the 2026 World Baseball Classic (WBC), despite losing to Nicaragua 6-0 in the WBC qualifier at the Taipei Dome on Sunday. The home team’s loss on Sunday means Nicaragua finish first in the qualifier round in Taipei with a perfect 3-0 record and advances to next year’s finals. After crushing South Africa 9-1 earlier on Sunday, Spain took second place in the four-team qualifier with a 2-1 record. With a 1-2 record, Taiwan finished third while South Africa placed at the bottom with
The Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) is considering reducing its pitch clock by two seconds to help players better adjust to the rules applied at the World Baseball Classic (WBC). The proposal aims to shorten the pitch timer from 25 seconds to 23 seconds with the bases empty, and from 20 seconds to 18 seconds with runners on base. Currently, the WBC mandates that pitchers deliver a pitch every 18 seconds with the bases empty and 15 seconds with runners on base. The issue was raised during a pre-season CPBL managers’ meeting on Tuesday by Rakuten Monkeys bench and batting