About 140 athletes and their coaches are scheduled to leave today for the Asian Para Games in Indonesia, which open in Jakarta on Saturday.
Vice President Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) yesterday handed the nation’s Olympic flag to the delegation at the ceremony held at the Sports Administration’s headquarters in Taipei.
Chen thanked the athletes and coaches for the time and effort they have made and wished them the best at the Asia Para Games, adding their performance would encourage other physically challenged individuals to exercise regularly and take part in competitive sports.
Photo: CNA
The 143-member delegation includes 89 athletes. They are to compete in 11 categories: track and field, swimming, powerlifting, shooting, archery, table tennis, judo, wheelchair tennis, badminton, wheelchair basketball and bowling.
Chang Wei-chieh (張維捷), one of the swimmers, is a senior studying applied foreign language at Takming University of Science and Technology.
Born with no shinbones, Chang learned to swim as a third-grader in elementary school, and his specialty is the 100m breaststroke, for which he holds a national record of 1 minute, 52:75 seconds.
“I don’t care if people call me a legless person, a robot or a freak. I am confident and tell everybody I’m an ironman,” Chang once posted on Facebook.
Chang said he hoped his experiences would inspire other physically challenged people to forget about how others might look at them and show their confidence in sports.
Given that the Asian Para Games are his first chance to represent the nation, Chang said he was really nervous, but he was also happy and thinks that it is going to be a cool experience.
He was honored to have received the subsidy from Chen on behalf of the delegation, and it motivated him to strive for his best performance, Chang said.
He trains for at least two hours per day, and US Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps is his idol, he said, adding that he hopes to emulate Phelps’ performances.
Two women, Hu Kuang-chiu (胡光秋) and Yang Yi-cheng (楊伊宸), made it onto the national wheelchair badminton team for the first time.
About 2,400 athletes from 43 nations and regions in Asia are to compete in the Games in Jakarta.
Taiwan won four gold medals, 10 silvers and 24 bronzes at the 2014 Asian Para Games in Incheon, South Korea, finishing eighth in the total medal count.
Three Taiwanese airlines have prohibited passengers from packing Bluetooth earbuds and their charger cases in checked luggage. EVA Air and Uni Air said that Bluetooth earbuds and charger cases are categorized as portable electronic devices, which should be switched off if they are placed in checked luggage based on international aviation safety regulations. They must not be in standby or sleep mode. However, as charging would continue when earbuds are placed in the charger cases, which would contravene international aviation regulations, their cases must be carried as hand luggage, they said. Tigerair Taiwan said that earbud charger cases are equipped
Foreign travelers entering Taiwan on a short layover via Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport are receiving NT$600 gift vouchers from yesterday, the Tourism Administration said, adding that it hopes the incentive would boost tourism consumption at the airport. The program, which allows travelers holding non-Taiwan passports who enter the country during a layover of up to 24 hours to claim a voucher, aims to promote attractions at the airport, the agency said in a statement on Friday. To participate, travelers must sign up on the campaign Web site, the agency said. They can then present their passport and boarding pass for their connecting international
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central
RSS