BASEBALL
Taiwan wins to forfeit
Asia-Pacific Zone champions Taiwan on Friday grabbed their first victory at the Bronco World Series, after the Dominican Republic, champions of the Caribbean Zone, forfeited by failing to show up for the game. With the victory, the team from Kaohsiung took the first step in defending their 2016 Bronco title. Although the Dominican Republic did not show up, the Taiwanese players, all 11 and 12 years old, still took fielding drills and posed with fans for photographs before leaving the field. Taiwan head coach Yen Meng-chan said that although his players might not be as tall or strong as US players, he always tells them they can beat anyone. Yen, who was also head coach in 2016, added that the team has some good pitchers this year, who have been training since they were in fourth grade. Taiwan yesterday was to play North Zone champion Chicago at the Los Alamitos Youth Baseball complex.
SOFTBALL
US thrashes Taiwan 7-0
Alison Aguilar and Delaney Spaulding yesterday drove in three runs each as the US beat Taiwan 7-0 to improve to 2-0 in Group A at the Women’s Softball World Championship, a qualifier for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Aguilar hit a bases-loaded double in a five-run second inning, when Spaulding doubled in a pair of runs. Spaulding completed the scoring with a two-run homer in the fourth and the game was called after five innings on the tournament’s mercy rule. The winner of the tournament is to be awarded an Olympic berth. Also in Group A, Puerto Rico beat South Africa 9-0. In Group B games, Australia edged Italy 3-2 and China shut out Britain 1-0. Japan, who beat the US to win the gold medal in Beijing, thrashed Botswana 20-0 in three innings on Friday to improve to 2-0 in Group B.
E-SPORTS
FIFA incumbent loses
England’s reigning FIFA eWorld Cup champion Spencer “Gorilla” Ealing on Friday failed to make the final four after losing to Malta’s Kurt “Kurt0411” Fenech. Yesterday’s Xbox One semi-final was to see Fenech take on Saudi Arabia’s Group B winner Mosaad “Msdossary” Aldossary. Manchester City’s Danish gamer Marcus “Marcuzo” Joergensen was to play Belgian Stefano “StefanoPinna” Pinna in the PlayStation 4 semi. The winner of the cross-console grand final at London’s 02 Arena is to take home US$250,000, an invitation to the Best FIFA Football awards next month and a gleaming trophy. “I’m expecting everything when I get back; red carpet, I can even run for president,” Fenech joked. None of the nations represented in the eWorld Cup semi-finals have ever won the real World Cup, although Belgium finished third in Russia last month.
BASKETBALL
Trump lashes back at James
US President Donald Trump sniped back at LeBron James on Friday, days after the player and philanthropist accused him of fueling racial divides. “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, [CNN presenter] Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do,” Trump said on Twitter. In an interview with CNN that aired on Friday, James said: “He’s kind of used sport to ... divide us and that’s something I can’t relate to, because I know that sport was the first time I ever was around someone white. You know?” James also told CNN that he would “never sit across” from Trump, whom he accuses of emboldening racists. “I think [racism’s] always been there, but I think the president in charge now has given people — they don’t care now, they throw it to your face,” he said.
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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