The World Games may have come to an end, but many of the 4,000 or so athletes who visited Kaohsiung to take part in the competitions said they would take away fond memories of the 11-day event.
What stood out in particular for many of the competitors was the friendliness of the locals and their willingness to help.
Andrew St Ledger, a member of the UK Tchoukball team said: “We’ve been treated amazingly by everyone. You have one small problem, you ask someone and within minutes 10 people are there to help you and are so kind and so generous.”
This was not a surprise to men’s nine-ball pool champion Ralf Souquet from Germany, who is well known in Taiwan and has visited on several occasions.
Souquet said in the past he had mostly visited Taipei, but he has also been to Kaohsiung for the World 9-ball championships four years ago and again for a promotional tour about a month ago, although he didn’t have time for sightseeing.
“But this time I’ve been to different locations to watch other sports and I’m quite surprised and quite impressed with what I’ve seen,” he said.
St Ledger was equally impressed.
“You can tell people here are really proud to be hosting the World Games and doing well at it. It’s not just our event, it’s everything I’ve seen so far — the athletes’ night, the catering, the hotels, everything. Stunning,” he said.
Bibas Vidal, coach of the Israeli jujitsu squad, brought three athletes to the World Games purely for the experience. He said the competition went well and was a good opportunity for his team. They didn’t expect to win but came to see the big shots fight and learn how a tournament like this worked.
“If Taiwan can do it, then Israel can do it, too,” he said. “Everyone smiles, wants to help us every place we go. The Taiwanese put on great hospitality and it was very warming to our hearts. I hope I will visit again.”
British 640kg tug-of-war team member Fred Worle agreed.
“The hospitality has been fantastic. Taiwan’s a great country. However, the weather could be a little bit more favorable to us Europeans,” he said.
Teammate Robert Johnson, a member of the UK’s bronze-medal-winning 680kg tug-of-war team, was also happy.
“Very impressed with how we’ve been treated out here. Very nice, friendly people. We’ve enjoyed it,” he said. “I think we’ve [been] looked after here better than anywhere I’ve been in the world before, and I’ve been doing this a long time.”
Asked whether there had been any problems, Johnson had only one complaint: “We struggled to find a bar for a drink when we’d finished.”
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
The famously raucous Hong Kong Sevens are to start today in a big test for a shiny new stadium at the heart of a major US$3.85 billion sports park in the territory. Officials are keeping their fingers crossed that the premier event in Hong Kong’s sporting and social calendar goes off without a hitch at the 50,000-seat Kai Tak Stadium. They hope to entice major European soccer teams to visit in the next few months, with reports in December last year saying that Liverpool were in talks about a pre-season tour. Coldplay are to perform there next month, all part of Hong Kong’s
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS