Good sports of the year

Local athlete Wu Wen-chien (吳文騫) won first place, with veteran runner Uladimir Kotau from Belarus snatching the silver, while Poland's Marek Dryja, last year's gold-medal winner, came in third.

7. `Oriental Express' steams to victory

Though Taiwan has done well on the regional and international stage in table tennis, Chuan Chih-yuan's (莊智淵) seven-set men's singles final at the Pro Tour table tennis final in Stockholm was a first for the nation.

No other Taiwan player has achieved a Pro Tour victory and the win puts Chuan in the big ten of the sport. The "Oriental Express'" victory against Romanian-born Greek player Kalinikos Kreanga was a just reward for the 21-year-old's single-mindedness in getting to the top.

His parents were top table tennis players and Chuan was sent to China and then Germany to learn and to ply his trade.

8. Luck of the Irish at Asian Open

Padraig Harrington's persistence paid off when he overtook Holland's Maarten Lafeber on the final day of the BMW Asian Open held at the Ta Shee Golf and Country Club in Taoyuan.

India's Jyoti Randhawa finished in second place with the trio of Lafeber, South African Trevor Immelman and the US' Andrew Pitts tied in third place, one ahead of Thailand's Thongchai Jaidee, the reigning Asian Tour number one.

The Asian Open has become one of the main stops on both the Asian PGA and European tours.

9. Local hero fades at the end

Taiwan's Hsieh Yu-shu (謝玉樹) gave up a six-shot lead going into the last round, leaving the door open for Malaysia's Danny Chia to win the Taiwan Open by two strokes.

Home-crowd favorite Hsieh self-destructed down the final stretch of the Acer Taiwan Open for Chia to take his first Asian PGA Tour victory.

Hsieh had led at the start of the final day by six shots but needed to birdie the 18th hole of the Sunrise Golf and Country Club in Yangmei, Taoyuan County, to force a playoff. He missed and watching locals groaned as Hsieh's chance of glory slipped away.

10. `Bad boy' a popular winner

Former "bad boy" cyclist Lin Chih-hsun (林志勳) took a gold medal in the men's 1km time trial at the Asian Games, surprising everyone, including himself.

The 21-year-old from Taichung beat the heavily fancied favorite Keiichi Omori of Japan.

Lin went second to last in the eight-man group final and completed the 1km course in an impressive one minute, 5:470.

It left two-time Asian championship winner Omori a challenging ride but one that he was expected to beat. He failed by 0.39 of a second, handing Lin first prize.

The bleach-haired Lin showed off his tattoo of the devil prostrate on a cross on his arm after winning, saying that cycling had provided him with his one opportunity for success.