Xavier Chen to play in China

National team member Xavier Chen has decided to play in China for Guizhou Renhe. This is a big move as he has only played in Europe. Doubtlessly playing in Asia will give him more time to train with the national team. He only has one cap with the national Taiwanese team.

Photo cred: Victor Chou's facebook

Here Xavier is with fellow national team member Victor Chou, who also plays in the Chinese Super League for Shanghai Shenhua.

Good luck!

2013 tennis season underway

So it's not 2013 yet but the WTA and the ATP have already started their year off.

The Taiwanese women contingent will be playing in Shenzhen this week. Already Hsieh Su-Wei has won her first against the lefty Melinda Czink. She would go on to play doubles with her sister Hsieh Shu-Ying in the last match of the night. They would beat the fourth seed pair of Mandy Minella and Timea Babos in two tiebreakers. Congrats on the good start girls!

Other Taiwanese players in Shenzhen are Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan who are seeded first in doubles. Yung-Jan will also play in singles against Ayumi Morita in the first round. Chang Kai-Chen will also be doing singles and doubles. In singles she's facing Silvia Soler-Espinosa and in doubles she's playing with (the recently returned from maternity leave) Yan Zi.

As for the men, Yan Tsung-Hua and Lu Yen-Hsun are in Chennai. Tsung-Hua has already lost in qualifying (boo). Yen-Hsun is seeded seventh and will play Matthias Bachinger of Germany in the first round.

Subway advertisement

Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AdceikFpUk

This stars Kuo Hong-Chih who played for the LA Dodgers. If you don't speak Chinese, it's OK pretty much the actions speak for themselves.

But if you need a summary here goes: It's the ninth inning. With a one run lead, Kuo has just thrown a ball and now the count is full. Announcer and the crowd is discouraged. Coach comes up to the mound. The commentator asks what's the coach going to do. Turns out the coach has a Subway sandwich which is both filling and nutritious. After eating it, Kuo has energy to throw a strike and win the game. The sandwich is advertised for 69 NT (69 is also the number on the back of Kuo's jersey in the commercial) or around $2.50.

Tidbit: You might noticed the date ９８ 年 ２ 月 １７ 日 at the first two seconds of the clip. Direct translation would give Year 98 (February 17). No this was not shot in 1998 as Kuo would have only been 17 at the time. Year 98 is literally the 98th year of a non Chinese ruling emperor, who was overthrown in 1912. Thus, the year of this commercial is 2009 on the Gregorian Calendar.

Asian Women Handball Championships

Finished about a week ago in Indonesia. Sorry for the delay. I admit I don't know much about the sport as it's neither popular in Taiwan nor where I live. But it looks cool- a mixture of football and field hockey.

Last time Taiwan entered they finished last (4th out of 4) in 2004.

This year Taiwan finished 7th out of a field of 12. They finished with a 3-4 record.

Results:
Pool Play
South Korea 40 Chinese Taipei 7
China 31 Chinese Taipei 14
North Korea 41 Chinese Taipei 23
Chinese Taipei 44 Indonesia 4
Chinese Taipei 29 Iran 25

Placement 5th-8th
Uzbekistan 32 Chinese Taipei 23
Chinese Taipei 40 India 24

How much is a Taiwanese baseball team worth?

....Around 4.7 million US dollars or 130 million New Taiwan Dollars.

That's the amount E-United Group decided to pay for the Taichung-based Bulls baseball club after their sponsor the Sinon Corporation put the club up for sale. The Sinon Corporation had been the team's sponsor since 1996.

This is good news for the Chinese Professional Baseball League. There are only four teams left in the league ever since the Chinatrust Whales and Dmedia T-Rex clubs disbanded in 2008. Had the Bulls club completely disbanded this year, the league would have been left with a paltry three teams. Allegations of corruption and game fixing have dogged the league for the past few years. Plus the global economic downturn has not helped the league either. The league is crucial for baseball development in Taiwan, which along with basketball are the two most popular sports on the island. Without the league, players would have to go to Japan.

The other three teams in the league are the Lamigo Monkeys (in Taoyuan), Brother Elephants (in Taipei), and Uni-President 7-Eleven Lions (in Tainan).

Taiwanese Tennis Year in Review (Male)

Argh....I did the female verson a month ago, but didn't have time for the male version until the holidays. Without further ado......

 

Lu Yen-Hsun

Photo Credit: Lia Organization

2011 Year end rank: 82

2012 Current rank: 59
Doubles Rank: 144

Yen-Hsun (aka Rendy) found much success this year on the ATP Challenger circuit. On the ATP main tour, he lost in the first round at three of the four majors. At two of the ATP World Tour tournaments, he was able to get major points thanks to drawing a wild card in Shanghai and a retirement in Beijing. His ranking improved 23 places thanks to winning three challenger tournaments: Seoul, Shanghai, and Singapore. He also won a doubles title at Bangkok with his good friend Udomchoke. He had two top ten wins against David Ferrer (though this was a retirement) and Janko Tipsarevic. He will kick off his 2013 season next week at Chennai. Hopefully he'll find more success on the main tour and won's have to go down to lower tournaments.

Jimmy Wang

Photo Credit: European Pressphoto Agency

2011 Year end rank: 156

2012 Current rank: 274
Doubles Rank: 264

Jimmy (formerly Yeu-tzuoo on the ATP website) is making small steps to get back into the top 100 ever since wrist problems sidelined him in 2010. He did solidly on the challenger circuit reaching the semis three times, but the best tournament was arguably at the US Open where he qualified for the main draw and beat Ivo Karlovic, his only top 100 win of the year. This was his first main draw Grand Slam win since 2007 Wimbledon. In all he earned $128,000 in prize money. With an improvement of 100 places this year, we hope to see a continual rise as Jimmy fights his way back to the tour.

Lee Hsin-Han

Photo Credit: Getty Images
Doubles Rank: 95
Note: Finally broke top 100 after about six years on tour.

Hsieh Cheng-Peng

Photo Credit: Tennis HK

 

Doubles Rank: 162
Note: Su-wei's (Taiwan's top female player) younger brother.

Peng Hsien-Yin

Doubles Rank: 172

Note: Started the year with a doubles ranking in the 1000s.

Hsin-Han won Qarshi and Seoul Challenger tournaments with Hsien-Yin and Prostějov Challenger with Cheng-Peng. Time will tell if these three can be fixtures in the doubles scene.

 Missing in action: Yang Tsung-Hua

Not really MIA. But what happened? Turn things around please in 2013!!!

Merry Christmas

Special guest....Jeremy Lin lol

Photo Credit: Jeremy Lin Twitter
Merry Christmas-hope everyone has a good day!

Player Profile-Yeh En chuan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S6Vgss4jtp0

Inspirational. Seems like he enjoys the sport and competition. Didn't know that badminton was not yet in the Paralympics.

If the other racquet sports like tennis and table tennis are in the Paralympics, why not badminton? Here's hoping they can get in to the 2020 games!

Pronounciation lesson 101

Here's a link on how to pronounce Hsieh Su-Wei, highest ranked tennis player in Taiwan, by TennisNowTV.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tq3-2QQfm8

Nice try. But the second word isn't pronounced like 'sue' and the third word needs to be a little bit higher in pitch.

Taiwan ties Guam

With a last gap effort (more like efforts), the Chinese Taipei football team tied Guam in the 92 minute of play 1-1. Chinese Taipei had numerous opportunities to score first as Chen Po-liang missed a penalty kick. Aiming for the upper right corner, he had the goal keeper beat but the ball sailed too high. Guam would score in the 67th minute with a volley. Guam would nearly score again in the 79th minute but a diving save quelled the threat.
Things got interesting as Chinese Taipei pushed for the equalizing goal. Down to probably their last chance, Lo Chih-an was slotted a pass in the midfield and struck a shot at the edge of the penalty box. Unfortunately it went straight to keeper who blocked it with two hands. The rebound was picked up by Chen Po-liang who passed down the right flank to Chan Che-Yuan whose shot went off the crossbar. The ball went up and fell luckily to where Lo Chih-an was standing. Lo Chih-an calmly headed the ball in for the equaliser.
Video here (hope you can understand Cantonese because I can't)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuQAj_nWgj0
Photo: Lo Chih-an after scoring the goal

Taiwan-2nd at Asian Baseball Championships

Defeating China 3-1 on Monday propelled Taiwan to a 2nd place finish at the continental championships. The 2-1 loss to Japan turned out to be the deciding factor as Japan would go on to stay undefeated and finish first. South Korea finished third followed by China, the Philippines, and Pakistan.

Watch inning four here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIkdZaq5rp0

Watch inning five here as Taiwan evens up the score:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1g0q4W7bTA

Taiwan Falls to North Korea

Taiwan fell 6-1 in their opening match of the second round of the East Asian Cup. They were down 3-0 at halftime and 5-0 before Chen Hao-wei scored in the 79th minute.

Taiwan next faces Guam on Wednesday December 5th.

East Asian Cup (Football)

The Chinese Taipei men's national team is participating in the second round of the East Asian Cup in Hong Kong today. The tournament lasts until the ninth. They face against Australia, North Korea (opponent today), Guam, and Hong Kong. The winner moves on to the next round. Chinese Taipei's team is made mostly of players who participate in the domestic Intercity League. The two who don't play in China. The most capped player is goalkeeper Lu Kun-Chi at 23. Other players to watch are Chen Po-Liang, Chan Han, and the Lo twins (Lo Chih-En and Lo Chih-Ah). The captain from their previous match Xavier Chen currently is playing in his native Belgian league for his club KV Mechelen. The national team plays against North Korea today.

As for the women's team, they had their competition about a week ago. They finished third out of the four teams. They lost to Australia 7-0 and China 2-0. They beat Hong Kong 2-1. Lai Li-Ching scored both goals. Footage of their match against Australia can be found here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGM_gGGUWIU

Update-2012 Asian Baseball Championships

Chinese Taipei has played two games. They lost a close one to Japan 1-2 and then thrashed Phillippines 12-1. They were supposed to play China yesterday but it was rained out. That game has been moved to the third. Today they play Pakistan and tomorrow Korea.

This is a round robin tournament. So far Korea and Japan have yet to lose and thus they're in the driver's seat.

World Baseball Classic Qualifier Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlTFoTOTP94

Quick recap of Taiwan's 9-0 win over the Kiwis from last week.

This week: 2012 Asian Baseball Championship

This week the Taiwan national baseball team is back in action as they compete for the Asian Championships. Taiwan will serve as the host as Taichung, loacted in the northern part of the island, is the host city of the contest which starts on the 28th. Other teams making the field are the Philippines, Japan, South Korea, China and Pakistan. Taiwan will look to improve upon their runner up finish in Sapporo three years ago.

Japan is the favorite, and I expect them to medal with ease. My other prediction is that South Korea and Taiwan will duke it out for a place in the finals. China has an outside shot for a medal. And I will be surprised if Pakistan and the Philippines (who are using an almost new roster than the one they had at the World Baseball Classic Qualifier) aren't at the bottom of the competition.

Of note earlier this month, the under-15 national team won the Asian U-15 tournament in India. Congratulations!

Curling-5th Place

Taiwan finished fifth at the Pacific Asia Curling Championships with a record of 2 and 4. This matched their result from last year. After blasting Kazakhstan, they needed to beat Japan in order to force a tiebreaker for advancement into the semifinals. Down 5-3 going into the tenth end, Taiwan managed to tie. However in the extra end Japan responded back with 2 points and winning the match.

Three of Taiwan's losses came at the last end, showing just how close they were. They'll be back again next year where there's definite potential for them to climb the ranks.

'Family' ad

Source: http://www.zelmanstudios.com/blog/?p=968

Thanksgiving-It's a time for family!

Curling update

Right now Taiwan sits in fifth place with a 1-3 record at the 2012 Pacific Asian Curling Championships. Three of their games of come down to the last end. They beat the hosts New Zealand but lost to South Korea and Australia by the one margine. Taiwan has two more games, one against winless Kazakhstan and the other against Japan. Only the top 4 teams advance to bracket play, so Taiwan needs to make its move now!

Taiwanese tennis year in review (female)

Hsieh Su-Wei

 

2011 Year end rank: 172

2012 Current rank: 25

Doubles Rank: 25

What a year for Su-Wei! She won 2 WTA title and 3 ITF singles title. Along with that she won a doubles title each on the two circuits. She reached a career high ranking and is now the highest ranked Taiwanese player in history. Her original goal for the year was to qualify for the Olympics, and she did that raising her ranking more than a 100 places to achieve it. There is a lot more I want to say that I'll be writing another post of Su-Wei in the future.

Chang Kai-Chen (right)

 

2011 Year end rank: 142

2012 Current rank: 89

Doubles Rank: 78

Kai-Chen (affectionately known as KFC) had her best year end ranking thanks in part to a 28-26. She did better in doubles with a 19-8 record. She had disastrous results during the European clay and grass and the US hard court. At one point she was 5-16 during a six month period. She turned it around once the Asian circuit came. She reached the finals of 220K Osaka (losing in a thriller) and 125K Taipei. In addition, she won doubles titles at Kuala Lumpur, Washington DC, and ITF Ningbo.

Chan Yung-Jan

 

2011 Year end rank: 132

2012 Current rank: 103

Doubles Rank: 73

Yung-Jan had an up and down year with a record of 20-14 in singles and a 11-12 record in doubles. She only played 14 tournaments this year because of a surgery for the removal of a cyst sidelining her for the first part of the year. She also suffered dizziness at Guangzhou, ending her season prematurely in September. Her best results came from reaching the semifinal of Carlsbad and the final of ITF Beijing.  These helped her rise 29 places in the rankings. Here's hoping that next year she can maintain a full schedule and rise up in the ranks!

Chuang Chia-Jung (left)

 

Doubles Rank: 39

Chia-Jung won two WTA tour (Kuala Lumpur and Estoril) doubles titles this year, meaning she now has a total of 19 doubles title in her career. She raised her ranking up eight places and won $90,000 in prize money. She also qualified for the Olympics and at 27, she is now a well established doubles veteran on the tour.

Chan Hao-Ching (far left)

Doubles Rank: 50

Yung-Jan's younger sister rose about 60 places in the doubles rankings. She won ITF Quanzhou and WTA Taipei leading to a 24-18 record. She has also played with her sister at several events with the best result being the round of 16 at Roland Garros and a final at Pattaya City. Proving she belonged on the tour, she scored wins over double specialists Grandin, Uhilirova, Mattek-Sands, Mirza, Lee-Waters, and Moulton-Levy. She's only 19 and the future looks bright for her.

 

Honorable Mention:

Chan Chin-Wei-Singles winner at ITF Incheon and Doubles winner at ITF Taipei 2

Hsieh Shu-Ying (Su-Wei's younger sister)-Doubles winner at ITF Wenshan and ITF Karuizawa

 

Nike Advertisement

 

source: http://designyoutrust.com/2012/08/nike-i-taekwondo-i-tseng-li-cheng/

 

 

Fierce! This is Tseng Li-Cheng, the Asian featherweight champion and also winner of the bronze medal of the 2012 games. She's only 25 years old, so she should be around for another Olympic cycle!

Jeremy Lin Update

Probably the most famous Taiwanese American in sports right now, Jeremy Lin and his team the Houston Rockets played the LA Lakers tonight. Unfortunately, Houston suffered a 119-108 and falls to 4-6 on the year. Lin had a whopping 10 assists but was only 22% from the field.

Houston is a young time so hopefully they can keep growing and improving as the season progresses.

World Baseball Classic Qualification Final

Congratulations to the men in red and blue who qualified for the World Baseball Classic on Sunday. They defeated New Zealand 9-0. Their reward? They will be hosting the Netherlands, Australia, and South Korea in March. Hopefully their MLB players like Wei-Yin Chen will make themselves avaliable for the tournament.

World Baseball Classic Qualification

Taiwan is hosting the World Baseball Classic Qualifier number 4. They are in the finals today and will play against New Zealand, a team that they beat 10-0 in the preliminaries. Taiwan also beat the Phillippines 16-0 in the semifinals.

Next Week: Pacific-Asia Curling Championships

The 2012 Pacific-Asia Curling Championships takes place November 18 to 25 in Naseby, New Zealand. Taiwan will be represented with Randolph Shen being the skip for the fourth straight year. The Taiwanese team is based in Canada and hope to improve upon their fifth place finish from last year. Kazakhstan is making their debut this year.

For more info on the Taiwanese team go to this link:
http://www.curling.org/index.html

I'll be updating this blog throughout the week with results!

加油！！！加油！！！

Asian Gymnastics Wrap up

The Asian Gymnastics championships took place earlier this week. The Taiwanese men took seventh in the team competition. The women didn't send a full team.

Two men qualified for the individual final while no women qualified for any of the finals. Close calls came from Lin Tseng-Ning and Tsai Yi-An who finished ninth and tenth on the vault respectively.

In the individual finals, Chen Szu-Chien finished fifth on the pommel horse.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1Mofexjeg&feature=share

His routine starts at around 45:38. Pretty solid-except his leg hitting the pommel at 46:02. He also threw in two triple Russians at the end of his routine, but the second one looked quite labored. Overall score of 14.

Chen Chih-Yu finished third place on the still rings. This adds to his bronze medal that he won at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou. Pic here from the AGU website.