President Ma Ying-jeou praised Taiwan’s Paralympic athletes yesterday for the spirit and determination they displayed at the Paralympic Games in Beijing.
Speaking while receiving members of the Paralympic delegation at the Presidential Office, Ma expressed his respect and admiration to the athletes for their efforts and for courageously challenging themselves.
At the meeting, Ma also presented a medal of honor to Lin Tzu-hui, who won gold in the women’s 75kg powerlifting event at the Games. Lin also won gold in the same event at the 2004 Athens Paralympics.
PHOTO: CNA
The medal was one of only two won by Taiwan at this year’s Paralympics, with archer Tseng Lung-hui grabbing the other with a bronze medal performance in the men’s individual recurve W2 competition. Taiwan won two golds, two silvers and two bronze medals in Athens.
Ma said that although Taiwan’s medal count at this year’s event was lower than at the 2004 Games, he was still proud of the athletes for giving their all.
Ma said that other countries around the world have in recent years poured more resources into cultivating and training Paralympic athletes, making the Games much more competitive.
Although this had made it more difficult to win medals, Ma said he felt this was a positive development as it illustrated that the world was paying more attention to challenged athletes and their competitions.
He added that this development also showed the vitality of challenged athletes and their determination not to bow down and let their limitations determine their fate.
He urged the Sports Affairs Council to strengthen its support for the nation’s challenged athletes in order to allow them to concentrate on training and develop their talents to the fullest.
He also called for the council to boost efforts to cultivate the next generation of challenged athletes to help Taiwan to achieve better results in international sporting events, such as the Paralympics.
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