Athletes on national teams would be allowed to compete in international events in other countries amid the COVID-19 outbreak only if the events are qualifiers for the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, Sports Administration Director General Kao Chin-hsung (高俊雄) said yesterday.
Kao made the statement in response to a question by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書), a member of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee.
Huang asked if the government still intends to send national team athletes to compete in Olympic qualifiers in countries where there are cases of COVID-19 infections, as the women’s beach volleyball qualifier is to be held in China and the women’s rowing qualifier in Chungju, South Korea, two countries with level 3 travel advisories.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The national gymnastics team is to compete in qualifiers in Japan and Singapore, which have level 2 advisories.
“We would first consider sending athletes who have not yet qualified to compete in the Olympic Games to go to qualifiers,” Kao said. “If the games are not Olympic qualifiers, then none of our national team athletes should go.”
Thirty-one national athletes in nine sports categories have so far qualified to compete in the Games, the Sports Administration said.
The National Sports Training Center has since Feb. 1 been observing strict disease-prevention standards set by the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), Kao said.
The nation’s disease-prevention policy is having an effect on the training of table tennis players, as a coach from China has been unable to re-enter Taiwan following the Lunar New Year holiday, Kao added.
If the Games proceed as planned, the Sports Administration would consult with the Centers for Disease Control about medical professionals traveling with the Olympic teams to assist athletes in avoiding contracting the coronavirus, Kao said.
The Baseball Americas qualifier is scheduled to take place on March 22 to 26, Kao said, adding that a cancelation or postponement of the qualifier due to an increase in cases in the US might also affect the Asian qualifier, even though the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) has postponed the Asian qualifier from next month to June.
Whether the two qualifiers proceed and select the two best teams qualified to compete in Tokyo might depend on next month’s meeting of the WSBC executive board, he said.
The Asian qualifier is the final opportunity for Taiwan’s national baseball team to gain a berth in the Olympics.
DPP Legislator Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) asked whether the Sports Administration supports a decision by the Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) to go ahead with its season-opener on March 28.
Chang Liao said that Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan (鄭文燦) has expressed the hope that fans could watch CPBL games in live broadcasts online.
Given that UEFA and Nippon Professional Baseball have decided to suspend or postpone games, he asked where Kao stands on the matter and whether he has consulted with the CECC.
Kao said that the CPBL would hold a disease-prevention meeting today.
“The Chinese Taipei School Sport Federation has held 100 closed-door games this month. As the nation has already had isolated infection clusters in communities, our position is that the CPBL should adopt stringent disease-prevention standards and postpone the game,” he said.
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