Torrential showers, thunder, and lightning dominated race conditions at the Ninth Annual Taipei County Congressional Cup Dragon Boat Race Championships held yesterday at Bitan in Hsintien, Taipei.
Despite the unforgiving conditions almost seventy teams competed in seven divisions.
"We will not halt the competition because of adverse weather conditions, unless there is a danger to the participants" Fung Chien-tang (
"Only if the lightning starts to move in extremely close to the river will we stop the races."
Huang Hsiu-li (
Huang's team, which came first in the mixed team division last year, was confident of her team's chances of reclaiming the title again this year and currently holds the top spot.
"We've been training intensively, seven days a week for over a month now," she said.
The fiercest competition so far has been in the men's societal division, with 18 teams.
So far, the top teams include the San-fa Automobile Company Dragon Boat team,? the Taipei City International Rescue team, the Aboriginal Ami team, and the Hsintien City Dragon Boat team.
In the men's administrative division, the team to catch is the Hsintien City Administrative Office, which won the Presidential Cup last year in the 2000 Taipei International Dragon Boat Race Championships.
In the men's school division, the Fu Jen Catholic University "Flying Dragons" currently hold the top spot, while in the organizations division the Taipei County Fire Department is the top contender.
In the women's competition, the Hsintien Community Representative team and the Lo Ming-tsai Office team are the teams to catch.
Because of the large number of teams participating in this year's races, the competition's format has changed, with the incorporation of an elimination round. Teams that make it past the elimination round continue on into the regular race format.
The Taipei County dragon boat races continue today.
Jesper Boqvist on Tuesday scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period as the Florida Panthers, after raising their second straight NHL Stanley Cup banner, opened the defense of the title by beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. Mackie Samoskevich — getting his second assist, the fifth two-point game of his career — chipped the puck toward the goal and Boqvist knocked it out of the air for the lead with 10 minutes, 20 seconds left. A.J. Greer and Carter Verhaeghe also had goals for Florida, who got 17 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Frank Nazar had a goal and an assist and Teuvo
World No. 3 Alexander Zverev on Monday said that he was playing “terrible tennis” after he was knocked out of the Shanghai Masters by France’s Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. His exit leaves Novak Djokovic as the tournament’s top-ranked player, increasing the 38-year-old Serb’s chances of winning a record-extending fifth title in the Chinese financial hub. In stifling conditions, world No. 54 Rinderknech came back from a set down to stun an increasingly rattled Zverev into submission. It is the second time the Frenchman has beaten him, after bundling him out of Wimbledon earlier this year. A despondent Zverev told reporters the match had
Mexico’s teenage playmaker Gilberto Mora has lit up the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile as he basks in the limelight afforded by the absences of Barcelona and Real Madrid stars Lamine Yamal and Franco Mastantuono. “I don’t know if I’m the biggest star, and I’m not really interested in that. I think you can always give more,” 16-year-old Mora said before Mexico’s 4-1 win against host nation Chile in the round-of-16 on Tuesday, in which he provided the assist for the opening goal. Next on Mora’s schedule is a quarter-final clash against Argentina this morning Taiwan time, but after
‘SOMETHING SPECIAL’: Nathan Lukes hit a two-run single and Addison Barger had three of Toronto’s 12 hits as the Blue Jays bounced back After taking down the storied New York Yankees in their own ballpark in their American League Division Series on Wednesday, Toronto Blue Jays manager John Schneider was ready to revel in the triumph. “Start spreading the news,” Schneider said while popping a bottle of bubbly to set off the Blue Jays’ jubilant celebration inside their Yankee Stadium clubhouse. With the party under way, the familiar lyrics from Frank Sinatra’s version of New York, New York — the Yankees’ long-time victory anthem — sounded in the background as roaring Toronto players sprayed each other with booze in the Bronx. This time, it was their
RSS