FENCING
U-17 team win title
Taiwan’s male under-17 fencers successfully defended their team epee title after defeating South Korea at the 2025 Asian Cadet Fencing Championships in Kuwait. The team clinched the gold with a 45-40 win in Sunday’s final. Chen Bing-jyun got his revenge against Choi Chan-young, who had beaten Chen in Friday’s individual epee final. Joining Chen on Taiwan’s gold-winning team were Lin Mao-xiang, Lee You-chen and Su Min-yi. Coach Ding Hong-kai lauded the young fencers for their boldness in attacking and resilience throughout the competition despite their inexperience. “Even when our athletes made mistakes, they were able to correct them immediately and capitalize on delayed actions to turn the bouts in their favor,” Ding said.
TABLE TENNIS
Lin Yun-ju ends in fourth
Taiwan’s top male paddler Lin Yun-ju lost 4-0 on Sunday to China’s Lin Shidong, world No. 1, in the men’s singles third-place match at the Asian Cup Table Tennis Tournament in China. Lin Yun-ju’s bid for a medal in the tournament ended with a 1-9, 11-6, 11-6, 11-4 defeat in the match, which lasted 35 minutes. It was his seventh consecutive loss to the 19-year-old Chinese player in seven tries. Despite his loss, Lin Yun-ju’s fourth-place finish was a personal best in the Asian Cup and earned him a ticket to the Table Tennis World Cup tournament in April. Meanwhile, in the tournament’s title match, China’s Wang Chuqin, who beat Lin Yun-ju in the semi-finals earlier in the day, defeated his compatriot Liang Jingkun to take the gold.
SOCCER
Van Persie confirmed
Feyenoord have confirmed Robin van Persie as their new coach, a return to the club where he started and ended his illustrious playing career, after a deal was reached to release him from his position at Heerenveen. The 41-year-old Dutchman has signed a contract until June 2027 and would be joined by assistant coach Rene Hake, who briefly worked under Erik ten Hag at Manchester United earlier this season before the latter was sacked. “Everyone knows how special my bond with Feyenoord is,” Van Persie told the club’s Web site.
TENNIS
Williams declines invitation
Former world No. 1 Venus Williams would not compete at next month’s Indian Wells tournament despite the WTA 1000 event giving the 44-year-old American a wild card. Williams, who played only two tournaments last season, said at a speaking event in Denmark that she had not been told of the wildcard before the tournament announced it on Wednesday last week and added that she was unable to compete due to prior commitments. “I found the announcement super amusing because, I don’t know, people seem to be happy, so I was like: ‘Maybe I’ll just go with it, I don’t know,’” Williams said at the event in the city of Naestved. “I’m actually not going. I’m going to be overseas.” Williams boycotted the event for 15 years after fans booed and heckled her younger sister Serena during her 2001 final victory over Kim Clijsters, apparently in response to Venus withdrawing injured from their semi-final.
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
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
‘SETTING THE TONE’: Donovan Mitchell said that their determination to dominate had nothing to do with past results, but was about a potential post-season clash The Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday boosted their NBA-best record with a 142-105 romp past the New York Knicks, tightening their grip on the Eastern Conference lead with an all-around dominant display. Donovan Mitchell scored 27 points to lead six Cavs players to score in double figures, connecting on five of seven three-pointers as Cleveland drilled 19 from beyond the arc. “I think the biggest thing was just try to set the tone early,” Mitchell said, adding that the determination to dominate had nothing to do with the Knicks’ first-round playoff win over the Cavs two seasons ago and everything to do with
BELGIANS ADVANCE: Club Brugge gave Atalanta a lesson in efficiency, as Gian Piero Gasperini’s team had 29 efforts at goal, compared with seven from the visitors Seldom has a player’s sending off had such an influence on a game. AC Milan was to left rue Theo Hernandez’s second yellow card — for diving — as Feyenoord advanced to the UEFA Champions League last 16 at the former European champion’s expense with a 1-1 draw in the second leg of their playoff on Tuesday, giving the Dutch team a 2-1 win on aggregate. Bayern Munich, Club Brugge and Benfica also won their playoffs, eliminating Celtic, UEFA Europa League winner Atalanta BC and French team AS Monaco respectively. “In soccer everything changes in a second,” said Milan forward
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