Taiwan will be represented by 368 athletes at the 2017 Summer Universiade, the largest global sporting event ever staged in the nation, according to the Ministry of Education’s Sports Administration July 13.
Local athletes from 49 educational institutions are set to participate in this year’s games, the administration said. The nation’s goal is to claim more than seven gold medals, it added.
The list of Taiwan competitors at the 2017 Summer Universiade includes top athletes such as weightlifter Hsu Shu-ching, a two-time Olympic gold medal winner; Kuo Hsing-chun, who won a weightlifting bronze at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics; and archers Le Chien-ying and Tan Ya-ting, who earned bronze medals in the women’s team archery event at the Brazil games.
Other standouts on this year’s national team are women’s world No. 1 badminton player Tai Tzu-ying as well as sisters Chan Yung-jan and Chan Hao-ching, both world-renowned tennis players.
Tai was catapulted to world No. 1 after winning the 2016 Yonex-Sunrise Hong Kong Open Badminton Championships women’s singles title. The Chan sisters claimed the women’s doubles world No. 5 ranking last year after securing their seventh title at the Qatar Total Open.
According to the MOE, 105 coaches will work with the local athletes during the games taking place Aug. 19-30 to help achieve the nation’s best-ever results. At the previous Universiade in South Korea’s Gwangju City, Taiwan brought home six golds, 12 silvers and 19 bronzes.
Also known as the World University Games, the Universiade is an international sporting and cultural festival staged every two years in a different city worldwide. The 29th edition of the games in Taipei City involves 7,700-plus student athletes from 153 countries contesting 21 sports at 38 competition venues in Taipei, Hsinchu City, Hsinchu County, New Taipei and Taoyuan cities. (CPY-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw