Sports Affairs Council Minister Tai Hsia-ling (戴遐齡) yesterday said a decision by the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) last week to suspend taekwondo athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) over a footwear controversy constituted bullying.
“Yang was bullied,” Tai told a meeting at the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee.
Asked by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chen Shu-hui (陳淑慧) to assess the situation, Tai said she “absolutely agreed” the nation was bullied by the WTF and the Asian Taekwondo Union (ATU) over the controversy.
Tai made the remark in response to the WTF’s decision on Tuesday last week to ban Yang from participating in -competitions for three months and to suspend Yang’s coach, Liu Tsung-ta (劉聰達), for one year and eight months.
The Chinese Taipei Taekwondo Association was fined US$50,000 because Yang and Liu protested the decision ringside at the Asian Games in Guangzhou, China, on Nov. 17.
Yang was disqualified for allegedly breaking the rules by wearing extra electronic sensors in her socks to register more points.
She was leading her opponent 9-0 when she was disqualified and a dumbfounded Yang refused to leave the arena for an extended period of time despite requests by officials for her to do so.
Video replays of the match showed Yang had removed the two sensors before the fight. -Inconsistent explanations by taekwondo officials about Yang’s disqualification raised questions about the legitimacy of the dismissal and sparked anger among Taiwanese against the WTF, ATU and even South Koreans.
Tai said that although the government would not give up appealing the decision on Yang’s behalf at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, the nation did not have the authority to either accept or reject the suspension ruling.
AGING: While Japan has 22 submarines, Taiwan only operates four, two of which were commissioned by the US in 1945 and 1946, and transferred to Taiwan in 1973 Taiwan would need at least 12 submarines to reach modern fleet capabilities, CSBC Corp, Taiwan chairman Chen Cheng-hung (陳政宏) said in an interview broadcast on Friday, citing a US assessment. CSBC is testing the nation’s first indigenous defense submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, Narwhal), which is scheduled to be delivered to the navy next month or in July. The Hai Kun has completed torpedo-firing tests and is scheduled to undergo overnight sea trials, Chen said on an SET TV military affairs program. Taiwan would require at least 12 submarines to establish a modern submarine force after assessing the nation’s operational environment and defense
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
The coast guard today said that it had disrupted "illegal" operations by a Chinese research ship in waters close to the nation and driven it away, part of what Taipei sees a provocative pattern of China's stepped up maritime activities. The coast guard said that it on Thursday last week detected the Chinese ship Tongji (同濟號), which was commissioned only last year, 29 nautical miles (54km) southeast of the southern tip of Taiwan, although just outside restricted waters. The ship was observed lowering ropes into the water, suspected to be the deployment of scientific instruments for "illegal" survey operations, and the coast
A former soldier and an active-duty army officer were yesterday indicted for allegedly selling classified military training materials to a Chinese intelligence operative for a total of NT$79,440. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office indicted Chen Tai-yin (陳泰尹) and Lee Chun-ta (李俊達) for contravening the National Security Act (國家安全法) and the Anti-Corruption Act (貪污治罪條例). Chen left the military in September 2013 after serving alongside then-staff sergeant Lee, now an army lieutenant, at the 21st Artillery Command of the army’s Sixth Corps from 2011 to 2013, according to the indictment. Chen met a Chinese intelligence operative identified as “Wang” (王) through a friend in November
RSS