Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) yesterday said that he hopes to awaken Taiwanese passion with the Universiade next year.
Ko made the remarks on the sidelines of a visit to a pavilion at the Taipei Expo Park to be used for the sporting event, where games were being staged to test the venue’s readiness.
He said that if he were to use one sentence to describe the Universiade, it would be “show the world a better Taiwan, and awaken Taiwanese passion in the process.”
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
Ko said that he does not believe the Universiade will be a failure when asked to comment on remarks by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lo Shu-lei (羅淑蕾), who in an interview with the Chinese-language Apple Daily said that if the Universiade is a flop, it would embarrass the city in the eyes of the international community.
Ko said that the importance he has put on the Universiade can be seen in his appointment of Taipei Secretary-General Su Li-chung (蘇麗瓊), who is among the city’s top-ranking officials, as the event’s chief executive officer.
“With the combined strength of 80,000 city government employees, the Universiade cannot go wrong, which is to say the least,” he said.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The mayor later broke a rack at a pool table to try out his hand at pool.
Ko, who said that it was his first time playing pool, amazed the crowd by first sinking a ball into a corner pocket before jumping the cue ball and sinking two other balls in one shot, which earned him a round of cheers and applause.
Taipei Universiade Organizing Committee spokesman Yang Ching-tang (楊景棠) said that the venue is awaiting renovation and would not be ready until April next year.
Later yesterday Ko joined Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) in front of the Taipei City Hall at a “countdown to the Universiade” event to mark the 365th day until the event’s start, where he tried out archery, weightlifting and played some more pool.
The committee said that renovation work on 26 of the 53 venues for the Universiade had been contracted out.
The committee said it has yet to contract out work at six venues, whose renovation costs are expected to exceed NT$50 million (US$1.58 million) each and at 14 venues costing less than NT$50 million each to renovate.
It said it is still reviewing the design of seven venues.
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