Fiji swept all before them to win gold yesterday at the World Games Rugby Sevens, retaining the title they won four years ago in an exciting tournament that saw Taiwan finish a respectable sixth out of eight teams.
The Main Stadium was turned into a mini Hong Kong as a crowd of more than 9,000 locals and foreign fans descended to cheer on their favorites.
Fiji, who had looked unimpressive a day earlier, had obviously been saving themselves, as they dominated proceedings from the start, outscoring Taiwan by four tries to one in their opening game, before comfortably beating a strong and previously undefeated South Africa in the semi-final 21-7 to set up a gold medal match with surprise finalists Portugal.
PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
The Taiwanese, meanwhile, quickly got over the Fiji defeat to put on a good show against Hong Kong in their second match. No. 6 Chen Chih-wei was the star, scoring both tries in an end-to-end first seven minutes to give Taiwan a 10-7 halftime lead.
Hong Kong hit back almost immediately after the break with a try in the corner to take a 12-10 lead, before Wang Jen-his got his second try of the day, breaking from the halfway line after a turnover to touch down for a 17-12 win that set up a fifth-sixth place decider with the US.
Unfortunately, Taiwan couldn’t replicate their victory over the US on Saturday, losing after a thrilling match that saw the lead change hands on three occasions.
PHOTO: HUANG CHIH-YUAN, TAIPEI TIMES
Taiwan got off to the worst possible start, conceding two tries in the first five minutes to trail 14-0, but they put themselves right back in contention in first-half overtime as star player Chen scored under the posts after a turnover to make it 14-7 at the break.
Almost immediately after the restart, Taiwan made it 14-12 as a nice switch of passes between Chen and Wang Kuo-feng saw Wang score in the corner. The crowd then went wild as straight from the kick-off, Wang Ju-an dummied his way through the US defense to score and put Taiwan 19-14 in front.
However, they couldn’t hold out for the win as the US scored from a penalty with 90 seconds left to make the final score 21-19 and secure fifth place, pushing Taiwan into sixth.
In the final, the Fijians proved too strong and too full of running for the Portuguese, running in an impressive seven tries to win the match 43-10 and take the gold medal.
The crowd was further entertained as a streaker ran across the pitch just after the final buzzer, before the heavens opened to make for a wet medal presentation.
South Africa took the bronze medal after beating Argentina 17-0 in the third-fourth place play-off.
Japan finished seventh, while Hong Kong took the wooden spoon after losing all six matches.
Taiwan’s men’s table tennis team won bronze on Saturday at this year’s International Table Tennis Federation World Team Table Tennis Championships in London, matching the country’s best-ever finish at the regular tournament. Consisting of Lin Yun-ju, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7, Feng Yi-hsin, Kuo Guan-hong, Hong Jing-kai and Hsu Hsien-chia, the team won bronze after losing 0-3 to Japan in the semifinals. In the opening match, 24-year-old Lin played the first game against world No. 3 Tomokazu Harimoto 11-5, but ultimately lost the next three closely contested games 9-11, 10-12 and 10-12. Feng then faced world No. 8 Sora Matsushima in
Lin Yun-ju on Thursday handed Taiwan two key victories as they advanced to the semi-finals of the ITTF World Team Table Tennis Championships Finals in London. The Taiwan men’s table tennis team beat Sweden 3-2 in five singles matches. The 24-year-old Lin, Taiwan’s top-ranked player at world No. 7 and nicknamed the “Silent Assassin,” opened the tie by defeating world No. 2 Truls Moregard 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 13-11) before clinching the deciding fifth match with a 3-0 (11-8, 11-9, 11-5) win over Anton Kallberg to hand his team the overall victory. Kuo Guan-hong put Taiwan up 2-0 with a 3-2 (4-11, 11-8, 8-11,
Taiwanese fire dancer Yang Li-wei advanced to the final of Britain’s Got Talent this weekend after receiving a Golden Buzzer during her live semi-final performance. Yang, a member of Taiwan’s Coming True Fire Group, awed judges and audiences with a high-intensity fire performance featuring flaming umbrellas, fire swallowing and spinning metal structures balanced with her legs. Judge Simon Cowell praised Yang as a star, while guest judge KSI reacted with amazement before pressing the Golden Buzzer, sending her to the finals. The dance group wrote on social media that the Golden Buzzer was “the highest honor” on the talent show, adding: “Twenty-three years
As Super Rugby fast approaches its playoff season it finds itself racing toward a reckoning with many issues that threaten the southern hemisphere tournament. A group of stakeholders met in the New Zealand city of Christchurch late last month to address problems that are making the future of the 31-year-old competition increasingly tenuous. The discussion was made more urgent by the decision by the owners of Moana Pasifika to fold the Auckland-based club for financial reasons. That followed the closure of the Melbourne Rebels at the end of the 2024 season, likewise because of financial difficulties. Problems addressed included player retention as more
RSS