Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers have criticized Sports Administration officials for ignoring calls for reforming sports governing bodies.
DPP Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) said the public is demanding reforms due to allegations of abuse of power by sports governing bodies, as well as allegations of financial irregularity, influence-peddling and strict control over athletes stemming from the Rio Olympic Games in July last year.
“At the time, Premier Lin Chuan (林全) asked the Sports Administration to propose reform policies and institute changes in response to demands by the public,” Huang said.
“However, Sports Administration officials were slack in their work and belatedly presented a draft plan [in November last year], which was flawed and unsatisfactory to most people. So they had to prepare a revised version. Such is the inadequacy and poor work of the Sports Administration, which is under the Ministry of Education,” he said.
“The Sports Administration is like players accepting money to lose games and deceiving the fans,” he added.
DPP Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) said that the government had given financial support to fund sports governing bodies and programs for athletes.
“The largest amount was granted to the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, which received NT$150 million [US$4.65 million at current exchange rates] in 2015 and 2016. Next was the Chinese Taipei Tennis Association, receiving NT$130 million during the same period,” Chang said.
“The government provides all these funds, but we do not see improvement in sports endeavors,” he said. “The situation in the nation is that child or young athletes make great achievements in sports, but when it comes to adults, they have nothing to show.”
It is because the athletes have to quit sports, or see a decline in their performance, after graduating from school, Chang said.
“This is because the environment for sports in the nation is inadequate; training programs are not based on scientific methods,” he added.
“There are no amateur or professional competitions to help athletes hone their skills. After student athletes graduate, they no longer receive training and make no progress and many have sustained injuries,” Chang said.
Meanwhile, lawmakers at the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee on Wednesday last week discussed only nine of 45 proposed amendments to the National Sports Act (國民體育法).
The proposals are to be revisited in March at the earliest, if another committee session cannot be scheduled during the legislature’s extraordinary session this month.
The Taipei Summer Festival is to begin tomorrow at Dadaocheng Wharf (大稻埕), featuring four themed firework shows and five live music performances throughout the month, the Taipei Department of Information and Tourism said today. The festival in the city’s Datong District (大同) is to run until Aug. 30, holding firework displays on Wednesdays and the final Saturday of the event. The first show is scheduled for tomorrow, followed by Aug. 13, 20 and 30. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Disney Pixar's movie Toy Story, the festival has partnered with Walt Disney Co (Taiwan) to host a special themed area on
Aftershocks from a magnitude 6.2 earthquake that struck off Yilan County at 3:45pm yesterday could reach a magnitude of 5 to 5.5, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Seismological Center technical officer Chiu Chun-ta (邱俊達) told a news conference that the epicenter of the temblor was more than 100km from Taiwan. Although predicted to measure between magnitude 5 and 5.5, the aftershocks would reach an intensity of 1 on Taiwan’s 7-tier scale, which gauges the actual effect of an earthquake, he said. The earthquake lasted longer in Taipei because the city is in a basin, he said. The quake’s epicenter was about 128.9km east-southeast
BE CAREFUL: The virus rarely causes severe illness or death, but newborns, older people and those with medical conditions are at risk of more severe illness As more than 7,000 cases of chikungunya fever have been reported in China’s Guangdong Province this year, including 2,892 new cases last week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday said it is monitoring the situation and considering raising the travel notice level, which might be announced today. The CDC issued a level 1 travel notice, or “watch,” for Guangdong Province on July 22, citing an outbreak in Foshan, a manufacturing hub in the south of the province, that was reported early last month. Between July 27 and Saturday, the province reported 2,892 new cases of chikungunya, reaching a total of 7,716
STAY VIGILANT: People should reduce the risk of chronic liver inflammation by avoiding excessive alcohol consumption, smoking and eating pickled foods, the physician said A doctor last week urged people to look for five key warning signs of acute liver failure after popular producer-turned-entertainer Shen Yu-lin (沈玉琳) was reportedly admitted to an intensive care unit for fulminant hepatitis. Fulminant hepatitis is the rapid and massive death of liver cells, impairing the organ’s detoxification, metabolic, protein synthesis and bile production functions, which if left untreated has a mortality rate as high as 80 percent, according to the Web site of Advancing Clinical Treatment of Liver Disease, an international organization focused on liver disease prevention and treatment. People with hepatitis B or C are at higher risk of
RSS