SOCCER
Chen’s Mechelen go in first
Taiwan international Javier Chen’s KV Mechelen went atop the Belgian Jupiler League on Saturday night after a 2-1 victory at OH Leuven, despite being reduced to 10 men at the end of the first half. Alessandro Cordaro opened the scoring for the visitors after eight minutes, but a foul in the penalty area by Kenny van Hoevelen in the 43rd minute gave Leuven a penalty, which Jordan Remacle converted, and saw van Hoevelen given his marching orders. Despite being a man down, Julien Gorius gave Mechelen the lead in the 51st minute and the visitors held on to take home the three points. Mechelen top the table with nine points.
BASEBALL
Taiwan scrape by in U16
A Taiwanese baseball team in the International Baseball Federation’s U16 Baseball World Championship avoided elimination by grabbing their first win in the tournament, beating Brazil 7-6 in Lagos de Moreno, Mexico, on Saturday. Starting pitcher Tu Chia-ming had a solid performance, allowing only five hits and one run over seven innings. Taiwan had a 4-1 lead by the bottom of the seventh, but relievers Huang Yi-hsin and Wang Tse-chun gave up five runs. Taiwan’s lineup earned the close win in the bottom of the ninth thanks to an uncaught third strike, opponent errors, walks and a hit in the final inning.
BASEBALL
Taiwan destroy Aruba
Yang Chin-hao went 4 for 4 with three runs as Taiwan’s Greater Kaohsiung avoided elimination at the Little League World Series with a 20-3 rout of Oranjestad, Aruba, on Saturday. Taiwan pounded out 19 hits. Yang singled to load the bases before scoring on Hsu Chi-ling’s first-inning double. The 12-year-old Yang added a two-RBI double in the second, before making a leaping stab of Albert Pop’s line drive to save an extra-base hit in the third. The game ended after four innings because of the league’s 10-run rule.
BASEBALL
Taiwan lose title at JLBWS
Taiwan failed to defend their championship title at the Junior League Baseball World Series (JLBWS), losing to the US 2-1 in the final in Taylor, Michigan, on Saturday. The team from Shing-Ming Junior High School in Taoyuan earned a spot in the championship after setting an unbeaten record in the international pool to compete against the winner of the US pool — the Palma Ceia team from Florida. Taiwan starter Lin Chen-fei went the distance, striking out six while allowing only four hits. Teammate Ou Chin had a two-out RBI double in the fourth inning to drive in the team’s only run. The US’ Patrick Kiszla hit a two-run homer in the second inning. He also pitched the final two innings in relief, retiring all six batters he faced.
BASEBALL
Taiwan edged at Pony WS
Taiwan lost by a run to Laredo, Texas, in the final of the Pony League World Series in Washington, Pennsylvania, on Saturday, in what would have been their seventh win since 1993. The South Zone champs defeated Taiwan 10-9 with a series of home runs and hits from the fourth inning onward. The team of 13 and 14-year-olds from New Taipei City led the game 5-1 in the third inning. Although they managed to score another four runs in the sixth and seventh innings, the team could not hold on. Despite the team’s loss, rightfielder Tsai Chen-yu was named the top runner with the most stolen bases in this year’s tournament, while third baseman Wang Ku-fan was named best batter, smacking six hits in the championship game.
Fickle winds produced farcical scenes yesterday on day two of the America’s Cup challenger series in Auckland, as the so-called “flying” yachts spent almost as much time in the water as above it. “I’m not sure today is a really accurate read because it’s so puffy, it’s shifty,” British sailing legend Ben Ainslie said after his Ineos Team UK maintained their perfect start to the Prada Cup series with a third straight win. The series would determine which of the 23m yachts — which fly above the water balanced on hi-tech foil arms — would challenge defending champion Team New Zealand for
Transgender athletes are to have an ally in the White House next week, as they seek to participate as their identified gender in high school and college sports — although state legislatures, the US Congress and the courts are all expected to have their say this year, too. Attorneys on both sides say they expect US president-elect Joe Biden’s Department of Education to switch sides in two key legal battles — one in Connecticut, the other in Idaho — that could go a long way in determining whether transgender athletes are treated by the sex on their birth certificates or by
DOUBLES VICTORY: The men’s doubles pairing of Taiwanese Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin downed Malaysians Ong Yew Sin and Teo Ee Yi, and face South Koreans today Men’s badminton world No. 2 Chou Tien-chen yesterday marched into the semi-finals of the Thailand Open, defeating younger opponent Lee Zii-jia 21-17, 21-15 after a rally, while Tai Tzu-ying had no trouble getting past her Canadian opponent in the women’s singles. The top male Taiwanese credited calm and focus in securing his win after briefly falling behind against his 22-year-old Malaysian opponent. “I think I had more patience against him and I won most of the long rallies,” the 31-year-old Chou said of Lee. “He wanted to attack [too much] and maybe he lost some focus,” Chou said. In today’s semi-finals, second-seeded Chou faces
DOUBLE VISION: The men’s duo of Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin downed the South Korean pairing of Choi Sol-gyu and Seo Seung-jae to secure their place in the final Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday easily defeated Mia Blichfeldt in her women’s singles match to advance to the finals of the Yonex Thailand Open in Bangkok, while Chou Tien-chen crashed out of the tournament. Tai quickly ousted world No. 18 Blicheldt, of Denmark, in 34 minutes, winning 21-8, 23-21. The world No. 1 today must overcome Olympic champion Carolina Marin of Spain, who took down An Se-young of South Korea yesterday 21-18, 21-16. In men’s singles, Taiwan’s Chou fell to Hong Kong’s Angus Ng Ka Long after a tough 66 minutes of play. While Chou, the world No. 2, bested Ng in the first set,
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