Despite fears that Typhoon Chebi would disrupt the races, the 2001 Taipei International Dragon Boat Race Championship went off without a hitch. \nWith roughly 105 teams competing in eleven divisions, the three days of preliminaries have yielded numerous electrifying races. \nIn the men's open division, the Hsintien City Administrative Office team -- the winners of last year's Presidential Cup -- are currently sitting in pole position after their narrow 0.96-second victory against the Hsintien City Dragon Boat team. \nIn the women's open division, the Taipei Physical Education College team currently holds the top spot. The top teams in the open divisions, which are the largest divisions, are usually the strongest contenders for the Presidential Cup. \nAs the competition is double-elimination, teams sitting at the top of the winner's bracket are at an advantage, as the only team that can displace them has to first work their way up through the loser's bracket, and then defeat the team in the winner's bracket twice. \nIn the men's international division, Thailand and the Phoenix Sister Cities Connection are competing for the top spot. \nAs in previous years, communication problems have plagued the teams in this division as all announcements are made in Chinese. \nSeveral teams, including two Japanese teams, the Aqua Fortis Dragon Boat Rowing team from the Philippines, and a team from Hawaii, have had to forfeit a race at some point during the three-day preliminaries because they didn't realize it was time for their team to report to the docks. \nFor some teams in the international division, the races are already over. Janie Moor from England, who is serving as captain of the Taipei Language Institute team for her second year and participating for her third, was happy with her team's fifth place finish. \n"The team really came together in their last couple of races, and I'm pleased with their performance-this is the best result we've had in years. The camaraderie was just brilliant." \nOther teams, such as the Center for Chinese Language and Culture's men's team, continue to fight their way up through the loser's bracket. \nSteven Blessing from the US and the captain of this year's team said his boat's chances were pretty good. "The team has performed admirably despite running into several setbacks, including members becoming sick with colds, fever, food poisoning, and the like following our competition last weekend at Bitan.
Fickle winds produced farcical scenes yesterday on day two of the America’s Cup challenger series in Auckland, as the so-called “flying” yachts spent almost as much time in the water as above it. “I’m not sure today is a really accurate read because it’s so puffy, it’s shifty,” British sailing legend Ben Ainslie said after his Ineos Team UK maintained their perfect start to the Prada Cup series with a third straight win. The series would determine which of the 23m yachts — which fly above the water balanced on hi-tech foil arms — would challenge defending champion Team New Zealand for
Transgender athletes are to have an ally in the White House next week, as they seek to participate as their identified gender in high school and college sports — although state legislatures, the US Congress and the courts are all expected to have their say this year, too. Attorneys on both sides say they expect US president-elect Joe Biden’s Department of Education to switch sides in two key legal battles — one in Connecticut, the other in Idaho — that could go a long way in determining whether transgender athletes are treated by the sex on their birth certificates or by
DOUBLE VISION: The men’s duo of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin downed the South Korean pairing of Choi Sol-gyu and Seo Seung-jae to secure their place in the final Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday easily defeated Mia Blichfeldt in her women’s singles match to advance to the finals of the Yonex Thailand Open in Bangkok, while Chou Tien-chen crashed out of the tournament. Tai quickly ousted world No. 18 Blicheldt, of Denmark, in 34 minutes, winning 21-8, 23-21. The world No. 1 today must overcome Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain, who took down An Se-young of South Korea yesterday 21-18, 21-16. In men’s singles, Taiwan’s Chou fell to Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long after a tough 66 minutes of play. While Chou, the world No. 2, bested Ng in the first set,
DOUBLES VICTORY: The men’s doubles pairing of Taiwanese Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin downed Malaysians Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, and face South Koreans today Men’s badminton world No. 2 Chou Tien-chen yesterday marched into the semi-finals of the Thailand Open, defeating younger opponent Lee Zii-jia 21-17, 21-15 after a rally, while Tai Tzu-ying had no trouble getting past her Canadian opponent in the women’s singles. The top male Taiwanese credited calm and focus in securing his win after briefly falling behind against his 22-year-old Malaysian opponent. “I think I had more patience against him and I won most of the long rallies,” the 31-year-old Chou said of Lee. “He wanted to attack [too much] and maybe he lost some focus,” Chou said. In today’s semi-finals, second-seeded Chou faces
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