■TCHOUKBALL
Teams visit diplomats
Two teams from a senior high school in Taipei County visited Taiwanese diplomats in Rome on Wednesday after taking first and second place at last weekend’s Beach Tchoukball International Festival in Rimini, Italy. Huang Chin-cheng, president of the International Tchoukball Federation based in Kaohsiung County, led the two teams as they called on Taiwanese representative to Italy Yih Jung-tzung and Taiwan’s ambassador to the Holy See, Larry Wang. During the meeting, Yih said sports were an effective form of diplomacy and praised the players as the country’s “goodwill ambassadors.” Wang gave the teams commemorative pins that are used as a symbol of friendship between Taiwan and the Vatican, and talked with the players about diplomatic relations between the two countries. Huang said Taiwan’s wins at the competition — in which more than 100 teams competed — demonstrated the country’s leading edge in the sport.
■SOCCER
Lyon win, grab third place
Olympique Lyonnais took a big step toward Champions League qualification for next season by beating Monaco 3-0 on Wednesday. Goals either side of halftime from Miralem Pjanic and Bafetimbi Gomis, and a late strike by Lisandro Lopez secured a comfortable victory for Claude Puel’s side over the beaten French Cup finalists. Lyon are now third in the table, a point behind second-placed Lille and a point above Auxerre. With the top three qualifying for the Champions League, Lyon can make sure of a place in Europe’s top club competition with victory at home to already-relegated Le Mans tomorrow.
■SOCCER
Pohang knock out Kashima
Reigning champions Pohang Steelers beat Kashima Antlers 1-0 on Wednesday, joining three other South Korean clubs in the Asian Champions League quarter-finals. Mota’s deflected right-foot shot in the 29th minute was enough for Pohang to dispose of the last Japanese team in contention. Eninho scored once in each half, twice giving Jeonbuk Motors the lead at Adelaide United, but the visitors needed a late extra-time goal from Lee Dong-guk to win 3-2. That allowed Jeonbuk to join Pohang in the next round along with other South Korean clubs Seongnam Ilhwa and Suwon Bluewings. Also going through were Zobahan, who beat Mes Kerman 1-0, and Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, 3-0 winners over Uzbekistan’s Bunyodkor.
■SOCCER
Teens to train at Barca
China will select 40 teenagers to train at Spanish club Barcelona next month in a major Chinese Football Association (CFA) initiative to develop elite players in Europe. The players, all under 15, will be chosen by Barca scouts at a two-month camp in Hebei Province and then will stay with more than a dozen youth clubs affiliated to the European champions over the next three years. The project is a part of the CFA’s ambition to train up to 500 teenagers overseas.
■ICE HOCKEY
US slump to third loss
Hosts Germany needed two goals from brothers Marcel and Nicolai Goc to seal their qualification to the world championship second round with a 3-1 win over Denmark in Cologne on Wednesday. The US slumped to their third straight group defeat, 3-2 against Finland, to fight for their place in the top division. The losing run by the US left Germany and Finland to progress from Group D along with Denmark. Switzerland beat Canada 4-1 to finish top of Group B, with Canada also advancing in second spot.
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
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
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
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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