The World Games 2009 Kaohsiung: Boules, bowling and Brazilian breasts

The World Games boules competition got underway in a humid 228 Memorial Park yesterday with a number of Taiwanese athletes in action.

In the first matches of the day, Taiwan’s men’s duo Chen Hung-wen and Sun Chia-yi got off to a good start against their French opponents and took a 5-0 lead, only to lose 10-7.

Later on, Chen and Sun lost 13-0 to Thailand, before finishing off the day with a 13-6 victory over Israel.

Meanwhile, in their women’s doubles opening fixture Chen Szu-an and Yang Tai-hua were on the end of a 13-1 drubbing by a Thai pairing. Chen and Yang later lost 13-3 to France and also 13-2 to Spain, before drawing 12-12 with Canada in their final match.

In the raffa, men’s pairing Chen Hung-ting and Huang Wei-hsiang went down 15-5 to Argentina, while women’s duo Chung Yu-chun and Yang Ya-ting lost by the same score to a Turkish pair.

On the first day of 10-pin bowling at the Happy Bowling Center, Taiwanese mixed doubles pair Fang Chin-nan and Wang Yu-ling failed to make the grade, finishing a disappointing 11th in their qualifying round.

Meanwhile, in the frisbee at the Main Stadium, Taiwan continued their poor form, losing 13-4 to the US and 13-7 to Canada.

In gymnastics, acrobatics and trampoline competitions at the Kaohsiung Arena, Taiwanese athletes failed to make any of the finals.

Down by the sea at Siziwan, Taiwan’s men finished fifth in the beach handball after defeating Pakistan 24-17, 22-11, while the women secured fifth place after beating Ukraine 10-6 in a penalty shootout. Italy took the women’s gold.

In related news, a Brazilian competitor got into trouble with police after taking off her top to catch some sun on the Siziwan sand. The rare site of a topless female attracted a lot of attention, according to reports, but the Brazilian beauty was quickly reminded of local customs and made to put her clothes back on by officers at the scene ... after they had also gotten an eyeful, of course.