Overjoyed Taiwanese pair Chan Yung-jan (
The unseeded duo fended off second seeds Yan and Zheng 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour and 23 minutes and will play third seeds Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Liezel Huber of South Africa for the title today.
Chan said it felt extra special because they dumped out the defending Australian Open champions after Zheng and Yan had beaten them in the Asian Games final in Doha last month.
PHOTO: AFP
"We lost to them in the Asian Games final and this is revenge for that," smiled the 17-year-old, who got a phone call from her excited mother in Taipei as she soaked up the applause on Margaret Court Arena. "This is the second time we have played them and we knew a bit more about their game."
"Winning in straight sets is an extra bonus. We are very excited because it is a big surprise," she said.
Chuang, who is ranked 177th in the world, said the key to their success at Melbourne Park was being relaxed and having fun.
"We are just trying to be relaxed and have fun and it looks like it is working," she said, adding that they are getting a lot of support from back home.
"Lots of people are watching. Maybe we will go home as heroes," she said.
They have never played Black and Huber before but have watched some of their matches here.
"We will do the same as we have been doing here, just trying to do our best and have fun," added Chan, who had her best season last year, finishing in the top 100 for the first time at 96.
The International Industrial Talents Education Special (INTENSE) Program to attract foreigners to study and work in Taiwan will provide scholarships and a living allowance of up to NT$440,000 per person for two years beginning in August, Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) told a meeting of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee yesterday. Pan was giving an update on the program’s implementation, a review of universities’ efforts to recruit international students and promotion of the Taiwan Huayu Bilingual Exchanges of Selected Talent (BEST) program. Each INTENSE Program student would be awarded a scholarship of up to NT$100,000 per year for up to
‘MONEY PIT’: The KMT’s more than NT$2 trillion infrastructure project proposals for eastern Taiwan lack professional input and financial transparency, the DPP said The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus yesterday said it would ask the Executive Yuan to raise a motion to oppose the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus’ infrastructure proposals and prepare to file for a constitutional interpretation if the KMT-dominated legislature forces their passage. The DPP caucus described the three infrastructure plans for transportation links to eastern Taiwan proposed by the KMT as “three money pit projects” that would cost more than NT$2 trillion (US$61.72 billion). It would ask the Executive Yuan to oppose public projects that would drain state financial resources, DPP caucus secretary-general Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said. It would also file for
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The project would only be the beginning, as Taiwan needs at least 120 satellites to ensure uninterrupted communication, Wu Tsung-tsong said The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday said it plans to launch six low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 as part of the government’s plan to boost the resilience of the nation’s communications. The development of the technology gained attention after Ukrainians were able to access the Internet through Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, despite their infrastructure being severely damaged in the war with Russia. Two of the satellites would be built by the government, while four would involve cooperation between TASA and private contractors. “Over the past 30 years, the satellite technology in Taiwan has
PLAN: Nations would receive US$5m a year if they could advance Taiwan’s international participation, diversify supply chains away from China or counter Beijing’s influence The US House of Representatives Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday introduced a bill that would approve US$120 million to be spent on supporting Taiwan’s international space and tackling coercion by China. The bipartisan legislation — the Taiwan Allies Fund Act — was proposed ahead of the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on May 20. The committee said in a statement that the bill “strengthens Taiwan’s global network of friends by authorizing [US]$120 million over three years for the State Department and USAID [US Agency