New Zealand pounced on numerous errors by South Africa to take the George leg of the IRB World Sevens series, downing the hosts 24-17 in the final on Saturday.
It was a reversal of last weekend's final -- when South Africa got the better of the All Blacks in Dubai -- and represented sweet revenge for Gordon Tietjens' side.
Once again South Africa failed to win their home competition after cruising through to the final by winning all their other games. They qualified by downing England 10-7, while New Zealand beat Fiji 29-12 in the semi-finals.
It was far from a classic final encounter between the two best teams in the competition, with handling errors and poor tackling scuppering the chances of the hosts.
None of the home team's strike runners -- such as Kabamba Floors, Stefan Basson, Philip Burger or Danwel Demas -- were allowed space or time to put any pressure on their opponents, while New Zealand enjoyed a majority of possession and won the battle at the breakdowns.
Although a second half try by Schalk van der Merwe narrowed the gap and gave the big home crowd a glimmer of hope of back-to-back wins, New Zealand held on for the victory and their first title of the new season.
Portugal were the surprise winners of the Plate competition when they defeated Zimbabwe 14-12 in a close final, while Australia got the better of Kenya 41-7 in the Bowl final.
Wales, who held England to a 14-all draw on day one of the competition, took the Plate competition after defeating the surprise package of the tournament, Tunisia, 26-5 in the final.
There were again a number of upsets on the final day, with Kenya's 19-17 win over Argentina the most significant.
Hong Kong-based cricket team Hung See this weekend found success in their matches in Taiwan, even if none of the results went their way. Hung See played the Chairman’s XI on Saturday morning, the Daredevils that afternoon and PCCT yesterday, with all three home teams winning. The team for Chinese players at the Happy Valley-based Craigengower Cricket Club sends teams on tour to “spread the game of cricket.” This weekend was Hung See’s second trip to Taiwan after visiting Tainan in 2016. “The club has been traveling to all parts of the world since 1982 and the annual tradition continues [with the Taiwan
Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei yesterday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while Coco Gauff’s dreams of a first women’s singles title in Melbourne were crushed in the quarter-finals by Paula Badosa. World No. 2 Alexander Zverev was ruffled by a stray feather in his men’s singles quarter-final, but he refocused to beat 12th seed Tommy Paul and reach the semi-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia defeated Elena-Gabriela Ruse of Romania and Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine 6-2, 5-7, 7-5 in 2 hours, 20 minutes to advance the semi-finals. Hsieh and Ostapenko converted eight of 14 break
The San Francisco Giants signed 18-year-old Taiwanese pitcher Yang Nien-hsi (陽念希) to a contract worth a total of US$500,000 (NT $16.39 million). At a press event in Taipei on Wednesday, Jan. 22, the Giants’ Pacific Rim Area scout Evan Hsueh (薛奕煌) presented Yang with a Giants jersey to celebrate the signing. The deal consisted of a contract worth US$450,000 plus a US$50,000 scholarship bonus. Yang, who stands at 188 centimeters tall and weighs 85 kilograms, is of Indigenous Amis descent. With his fastest pitch clocking in at 150 kilometers per hour, Yang had been on Hsueh’s radar since playing in the HuaNan Cup
HARD TO SAY GOODBYE: After Coco Gauff dispatched Belinda Bencic in the fourth round, she wrote ‘RIP TikTok USA’ and drew a broken heart on a television camera lens Defending champion Hsieh Su-wei of Taiwan yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals of the women’s doubles at the Australian Open, while compatriot Chan Hao-ching on Saturday dominated her opponents in the second round, as world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka swept into the quarter-finals. Third seeds Hsieh and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia toppled Hungary’s Timea Babos and Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US 6-4, 6-3, hitting 24 winners and converting three of seven break points in 1 hour, 18 minutes at 1573 Arena. Although rivals at last year’s Australian Open — where Hsieh and Belgium’s Elise Mertens beat Ostapenko and Ukraine’s Lyudmyla Kichenok 6-1, 7-5
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