The Sports Administration last night confirmed that Taiwan Cooperative Holdings had decided to allow table tennis player Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵) to participate in the China Table Tennis Super League after it was determined that Chuang would compete as a member of a Tianjin-based table tennis club, not a player representing the Chinese city of Tianjin.
The Taiwanese financial holding company reversed its previous position, which forbade Chuang from participating in the competition. The company said that Chuang is an employee of the firm and part of its table tennis team.
As the government is its largest shareholder, the financial holding firm said that its operations are supervised by the Legislative Yuan, and allowing Chuang to represent a Chinese city would turn the situation into a political issue.
As the league competition is scheduled to begin this week, Chuang resigned from Taiwan Cooperative Holding to be able to participate. He issued a statement yesterday saying that he is still registered as a player from Chinese Taipei (Taiwan). He also said that he would compete as a member of the Tianjin Dr Energy Table Tennis Club, rather than a player representing Tianjin.
Chuang said he wants to compete in the Super League because it would attract the world’s top table tennis players, which would help him prepare for next year’s Rio Olympics.
Hong Chih-chang (洪志昌), chief of the administration’s competitive sports division, said that the administration yesterday afternoon negotiated with representatives from Taiwan Cooperative Holdings and the Chinese Taipei Table Tennis Association. The company understood that the Super League is an important competition among professional table tennis teams, Hong said, adding that it agreed to let Chuang participate in the Super League as part of Chuang’s Olympic training.
Hong said Chuang’s contract with the company remains valid as his resignation has not been approved.
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