Not to be outdone by the baseball team, Taiwan's softball squad got off to a strong start yesterday by winning both of their preliminary matches against South Korea and North Korea. Pitching proved the key, with Taiwan's pitchers giving up no runs and just four hits over 13 total innings.
Taiwan one-hit South Korea for a 7-0 thumping in the first match, pounding out 11 hits over six innings against starter Kim Jin-kyung, while Taiwan starter Wu Chia-yen was perfect during her first two innings of work. She was replaced in the third by Han Hsin-lin, who racked up four strikeouts in just 2.2 innings to take the easy win.
North Korea proved more threatening than its southern counterpart, holding Taiwan to a scoreless tie for the first four innings. North Korea's Kim Song-chun also pitched a complete game, giving up the only two runs of the match in the bottom of the fifth when Li Chiu-ching smacked a two-out, two-run home run to give Taiwan the lead. Taiwan's pitching was dominant again, giving up just three hits and no runs with Lin Su-hua earning the win for her 5.2 innings of work.
The men's and women' golf teams are set up for a strong finish in the final round today after putting up solid numbers yesterday. Taiwan's men's team maintained a one stroke lead over Japan to hold second place, although South Korea pulled away in first place by nine strokes. Taiwan's 15-year-old Pan Cheng-tseng continues to lead the individual field with a score of 205 after three rounds, leading South Korea's Kim Kyung-tae by just one stroke with one round left to play.
The women's team is in the same situation, in second place trailing South Korea by eight strokes and ahead of Japan by two. Tseng Ya-ni continues to hold second place in the individual competition, although it was Yu Pei-lin, currently tied for fourth, who led the entire field yesterday by shooting a 63, the best single-round score of the tournament so far.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was