Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) has instructed the Sports Administration to assist and protect national athletes and their coaches after the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association unilaterally barred a table tennis player from participating in the US Smash competition next month.
The association in April asked 17-year-old Yeh Yi-tian (葉伊恬) to join the Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships in Uzbekistan, which is to take place from June 26 to July 2.
Her coach, former Olympic table tennis player Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵), declined, saying that Yeh intended to focus on three open-age international events, including the World Table Tennis’ (WTT) US Smash from July 3 to 13, and not participate in the youth championships.
Photo: screen grab from the World Table Tennis Web site
The association’s selection and training meeting nonetheless ruled earlier last month that Yeh must participate in the Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships. Yeh is a member of the government-run Gold Program, which was created to train potential winners in the Olympics and other major international competitions, it said.
Chuang again declined the offer.
Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association secretary-general Yeh Kuo-ching (葉國欽) told Chuang that, while the association respected their decision not to compete in the Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships, it would have to withdraw Yeh Yi-tian’s participation in the US Smash.
Chuang then agreed that Yeh Yi-tian would compete in the championships, but if there is any scheduling conflict between the youth championships and US Smash, she would pay a fine instead.
However, Yeh Yi-tian’s training team discovered that she was not on the list of players after US Smash released the tournament draw.
In response, the association said it had no choice but to cancel Yeh Yi-tian’s participation in the US Smash, because the schedule would clash with that of the Asian Youth Table Tennis Championships, adding that athletes should prioritize events in which they can represent the nation.
On Sunday, the Sports Administration said that the association should respect her choice and should not have turned down the invitation from the WTT on her behalf.
It said the association’s management should provide a public explanation of the controversy and issue an official apology within 24 hours, or the government would suspend all subsidies to the association.
Yeh Kuo-ching could also be removed from his position in accordance with the National Sports Act (國民體育法), it said.
Cho told the Sports Administration to act swiftly to resolve the matter to protect the rights of the athlete and her coach, Executive Yuan spokesperson Michelle Lee (李慧芝) said.
National sports associations should focus on and listen to athletes and their coaches, Cho said, adding that they should update and improve their governance to keep up with the times, especially as the Sports Administration is scheduled to be upgraded to the Ministry of Sports in September.
The association did not apologize yesterday. It posted on its official Web site a private letter from Sports Administration Director-General Cheng Shih-chung (鄭世忠) in which he reiterated the warning.
It posted another statement yesterday afternoon, saying it was humbled by all criticisms regarding its handling of the matter.
“We will soon convene a special board meeting, and a selection and training committee meeting. Conclusions reached in these meetings would be handed to the Sports Administration and explained in public,” the association said.
Speaking to reporters before a legislative commitee meeting, Cheng said that he had never seen a national sports association that was so unwilling to listen to athletes and so reluctant to admit it had made a mistake.
“We have issued an ultimatum. The problem with the association is its refusal to make decisions by listening to atheletes,” he said. “They [the association] have one day. What Yeh Yi-tian wants is an apology from the association’s secretary-general,” Cheng said.
All sports associations are to hold elections for new management in March next year, he said.
“We would monitor if there is any unusual increase in memberships in national sports associations. Some associations might use phantom members to boost their numbers to dominate the elections. If that is the case, we would not allow electronic voting or voting by mail,” Cheng said.
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