The father of Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) demanded that the government seek justice for his daughter after allegations that she had used extra sensors in her socks led to her disqualification from the Asian Games on Wednesday.
“The whole thing is utterly unacceptable,” Yang Chin-hsing (楊進興) said.
Yang’s mother said the phone at the family’s home was ringing off the hook with calls offering sympathy and support for her daughter.
Until Sports Affairs Council (SAC) Deputy Minister Steven Chen (陳士魁) visited the family at their home in Taipei County yesterday afternoon to apologize on behalf of another SAC deputy minister, Chen Hsien-chung (陳顯宗), for having previously suggested that Taiwan could only “swallow” Wednesday’s ruling, the mother said there had been nothing forthcoming from any government agency since the incident took place.
According to her father, Yang Shu-chun had considered retiring from the sport after failing to win a medal at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, and had only continued after he persuaded her to do so. Neither of them expected something like this to happen during the Asian Games.
Yang Shu-chun was quoted by her mother as being devastated, calling home five or six times on Wednesday in tears, saying that all the hard work she had put in over the last 10 years had just gone up in smoke.
Yang Chin-hsing said he strongly suspected China had a hand in the incident. He said the semi-final was originally set for yesterday, but had been changed to Wednesday at the last moment, giving Yang very little time to register.
Her mother said that Yang Shu-chun had put everything into her training. She said over the last couple of years the athlete had been approached on several occasions by companies wanting her to endorse their products, but had turned them down because she wanted to concentrate on her preparations for the Asian Games.
“The whole family is upset by what has happened,” the mother said.
A preclearance service to facilitate entry for people traveling to select airports in Japan would be available from Thursday next week to Feb. 25 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) said on Tuesday. The service was first made available to Taiwanese travelers throughout the winter vacation of 2024 and during the Lunar New Year holiday. In addition to flights to the Japanese cities of Hakodate, Asahikawa, Akita, Sendai, Niigata, Okayama, Takamatsu, Kumamoto and Kagoshima, the service would be available to travelers to Kobe and Oita. The service can be accessed by passengers of 15 flight routes operated by
MORE FALL: An investigation into one of Xi’s key cronies, part of a broader ‘anti-corruption’ drive, indicates that he might have a deep distrust in the military, an expert said China’s latest military purge underscores systemic risks in its shift from collective leadership to sole rule under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), and could disrupt its chain of command and military capabilities, a national security official said yesterday. If decisionmaking within the Chinese Communist Party has become “irrational” under one-man rule, the Taiwan Strait and the regional situation must be approached with extreme caution, given unforeseen risks, they added. The anonymous official made the remarks as China’s Central Military Commission Vice Chairman Zhang Youxia (張又俠) and Joint Staff Department Chief of Staff Liu Zhenli (劉振立) were reportedly being investigated for suspected “serious
ENHANCING EFFICIENCY: The apron can accommodate 16 airplanes overnight at Taoyuan airport while work on the third runway continues, the transport minister said A new temporary overnight parking apron at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport is to start operating on Friday next week to boost operational efficiency while the third runway is being constructed, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications said yesterday. The apron — one of the crucial projects in the construction of the third runway — can accommodate 16 aircraft overnight at the nation’s largest international airport, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) told reporters while inspecting the new facility yesterday morning. Aside from providing the airport operator with greater flexibility in aircraft parking during the third runway construction,
Taiwanese and US defense groups are collaborating to introduce deployable, semi-autonomous manufacturing systems for drones and components in a boost to the nation’s supply chain resilience. Taiwan’s G-Tech Optroelectronics Corp subsidiary GTOC and the US’ Aerkomm Inc on Friday announced an agreement with fellow US-based Firestorm Lab to adopt the latter’s xCell, a technology featuring 3D printers fitted in 6.1m container units. The systems enable aerial platforms and parts to be produced in high volumes from dispersed nodes capable of rapid redeployment, to minimize the risk of enemy strikes and to meet field requirements, they said. Firestorm chief technology officer Ian Muceus said