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Taiwan’s in-line skaters eyeing golds at Asian Games

Taiwan’s in-line speed skating athletes should be able to capture at least four gold medals at next year’s Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, the head coach of the Taiwanese roller skating team said on Wednesday.

Huang Chin-lung told a news conference that the Taiwanese team is currently training at a “secret base” in Kunming in China’s Yunnan Province, because training at the 1,200m altitude is good preparation for the athletes.

Chiang Pin-cheng, chairman of the Chinese Taipei Roller Sports Federation, said he was confident about the Taiwanese team’s prospects for this year’s World Games in Kaohsiung.

He pointed out that at the 13th Asian Roller Skating Championships held in October at Haining in China’s Zhejiang Province, Taiwanese athletes captured 20 gold, 25 silver and 27 bronze medals.

Roller skating or in-line skating, also known as rollerblading, has been formally included as one of the new sports in the next Asian Games in Guangzhou in 2010.

The sport looks like Olympic ice skating and is held at velodrome-like venues similar to those used for track cycling, except that the embankment is not as steep.

Skaters travel at a speeds of 50kph-60kph.
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