The quality of the nation’s major international basketball tournament, the annual Jones Cup, can be gauged by the fact that Jordan, ranked 42nd in the world by the International Basketball Federation, have won the last two events.
On the plus side, Taipei is this year hosting the Deaflympics and Kaohsiung the World Games, an event for sports not included in the Olympics.
While these are steps in the right direction, the global impact of the two will be minimal. How many Taiwanese sports fans will be lining up to watch boules or fistball in Kaohsiung?
Comparing Taiwan’s sports events with those in China and Japan is even more depressing, and they stack up badly with Malaysia and Thailand.
Singapore’s government has seen the value of a major sports event in putting its country in the spotlight in terms of worldwide television exposure and attracting tourists.
It’s also probably no coincidence that the LTA events in Thailand and Indonesia take place in the tourist centers of Pattaya and Bali respectively.
It is time for central and local governments, sports governing bodies and the business community to take hosting and sponsoring major sports seriously. And that means spending money.
Until events offer prize money on a par with others in the region, the stars will continue to stay away. Even worse, the few world-class performers Taiwan has may decide the grass is greener elsewhere and take up offers like those made to Yani Tseng and pool player Wu Chia-ching (吳珈慶) by China and Singapore.
The nation’s long-suffering sports fans deserve better.
RSS