Taiwanese world No. 1 golfer Yani Tseng (曾雅妮) pledged US$50,000 on Tuesday to the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to fund charitable projects, including helping with post-disaster relief efforts in Japan.
Wearing a badge reading “Don’t Give Up Japan,” Tseng said at a news conference promoting the upcoming LPGA KIA Classic that she was very concerned about Japan’s situation after it was rocked by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake and tsunami on March 11.
“One day I told my friends that I looked forward to traveling to Japan to help disaster victims and I dreamed that night that I was helping Japanese victims move quake and tsunami wreckage away,” Tseng said, urging others to join her in contributing to the effort.
Prior to last week’s LPGA Founders Cup, in which LPGA pros played for charity, Tseng had pledged to donate her prize money to UNICEF for a project to provide clean drinking water for Third World countries and disaster victims in Japan.
She won US$7,400 after finishing 29th, but decided anyway to donate US$50,000 to UNICEF.
Tseng also said she felt honored to finish second in a recent online selection of top “future young leaders” in Taiwan, organized by CommonWealth Magazine and Yahoo-Kimo.
The 22-year-old said she would continue to pursue excellence and promote sports and golf to become a role model for Taiwanese youth.
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