Six-time Deaflympic men’s soccer gold medalists and reigning champions Britain arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday to prepare for the Games’ soccer tournament, which starts next Friday, the day before the opening ceremony.
As part of preparations for their first game against Japan at Yingfeng in Taipei, the British team are playing a warm-up match against reigning Businessman’s League champions Taipei City FC at the Taipei American School in Tianmu tomorrow at 4:30pm. Entrance is free.
Taipei City FC, who are themselves preparing to defend their league title, are no strangers to matches against international opponents, having played friendlies against Taiwan’s national team in the past.
PHOTO: YAO CHIEH-HSIU, TAIPEI TIMES
British Olympic and Paralympic athletes receive funding from the British government, but Deaflympics athletes receive no government funding and very limited publicity. Each member of the squad has raised £3,000 (US$4,900) just for the chance to compete in the Games in Taipei, something that is certain to motivate them to do well.
Centerhalf Chris Beech told the BBC: “When you look at what we’re asking for [from the government], it’s really peanuts compared to the kind of backing that the other athletes are getting. We just want a fraction of that, but the government have denied us that opportunity. It’s really baffling why we don’t get any support.”
“Obviously it does feel that we’ve been ignored by society. I guess that our competition taking place the year after the Olympics and Paralympics doesn’t help,” Beech said. “When we go to different places for training camps, we’re surprised that people have never heard of us, but when we tell people what we’re doing they throw themselves behind us.”
Beech said the team are definitely looking to retain their title.
“Obviously I hope we can retain our gold medal and status as Olympic champions. I’m pretty confident we can do that. Another gold medal would be really nice. We’ve worked hard for this and we owe it to the people who have contributed towards us going there [Taipei],” Beech told the BBC.
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