The Sports Administration opened for business officially Jan. 2, and ROC President Ma Ying-jeou said he hoped the new body would help boost people’s active participation in sports.
The new organization forms part of the Ministry of Education, after a reorganization that saw the former Sports Affairs Council under the Executive Yuan merged with the ministry.
The restructured body should serve to better integrate the demands of educational and recreational sports participants with an optimal use of resources and facilities to promote the nation’s sporting goals.
“In terms of promoting sport for everyone, the percentage of people taking regular exercise has increased from 24 percent in 2008 to 30.4 percent at present,” Ma said.
A new public sports center opened in New Taipei City had been enthusiastically welcomed and was proof of the government’s determination to make exercise a part of everyday life to boost the health of the nation and increase its international competitiveness, Ma said.
Education Minister Chiang Wei-ling said the Sports Administration has targeted annual growth in the rate of public participation in regular exercise at three percentage points.
Although the sports body had been downgraded from a second-tier to a third-tier administrative body as a result of the reorganization, this should not impact its efficacy, a Sports Administration official said.
The new body would continue to work for improved facilities to build on the Sports Affairs Council’s past 15 years’ achievements, he added. (SDH)