The first group of Taiwanese athletes competing in the Beijing Olympics headed for the Chinese capital on Thursday to prepare for the competition.
The group included five weightlifters — Wang Hsin-yuan (王信淵), Yang Ching-yu (楊景翊), Yang Sheng-hsiung (楊勝雄), Chen Wei-ling (陳葦綾) and Lu Ying-chi (盧映錡) — and Chang Hao (張浩), who will represent Taiwan in the sailing competition, as well as their respective coaches.
Taiwan’s Olympic delegation leader Tsai Szu-chueh (蔡賜爵) and Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee (CTOC) Secretary-General Chen Kuo-yi (陳國儀) will lead a second group of badminton players, archers, swimmers, shooters, rowers and judo fighters to Beijing tomorrow.
The nation’s Olympic tennis hopes — Chan Yung-jan (詹詠然) and Chuang Chia-jung (莊佳容) — who secured their positions as top seeds in the women’s doubles tournament at the Beijing Olympics after winning the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles on July 27, are scheduled to leave for Beijing on Thursday, along with table tennis players, the track and field team and the female softball team.
Taiwan’s 80-strong Olympic delegation will compete in 15 sports — archery, baseball, cycling, judo, rowing, sailing, shooting, softball, swimming, table tennis, taekwondo, badminton, tennis, track and field and weightlifting.
They are seen as having the best chances of winning gold in taekwondo, weightlifting, archery and tennis, a CTOC official said.
The nation won two gold medals — both in taekwondo — two silvers and one bronze at the last Olympic Games in 2004 in Athens, ranking 31st in the overall medal standings that year.
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