Minister of Sports Lee Yang (李洋) yesterday attended his first Cabinet meeting, where he discussed expanding eligibility for sports vouchers and improving education for student-athletes.
The Ministry of Sports is mulling issuing sports vouchers to broader swathes of demographics to stimulate growth in the domestic sports industry, said Lee, a retired badminton champion who has headed the new ministry since its establishment on Monday.
The ministry has a NT$21.43 billion (US$706 million) budget for the first year of its operations.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
The proposed changes to the sports vouchers — which are redeemable at athletic exercise venues or sports events — would allow Taiwanese other than those aged between 16 and 22 years to get the coupons, he said.
The proposal is being discussed with officials in the relevant agencies and the private sector, he said.
The ministry is also in the process of formulating reforms to educational programs for students training to become professional athletes, Lee said.
Sports officials are consulting with teachers and coaches to come up with a strategy, he added.
The policy’s target is to ensure that professional athletes receive both the sports training and the academic instruction they need, he said.
Collaboration between the Department of Competitive Sports, the National Sports Training Center and entities involved in sports would be key to the ministry’s efforts to protect the rights and interests of athletes, he said.
The ministry said in a statement that the major goals of Lee’s tenure are encouraging all Taiwanese to engage in athletic activity, integrating competitive sports organizations and institutions, and increasing Taiwan’s visibility by hosting international sports events.
The major goals are also facilitating the commercialization of the sports industry, realizing the values of sustainability and diversity, and improving the training of young Taiwanese athletes, it said.
Also yesterday, the ministry opened a conference of school athletics directors, to continue through tomorrow.
Athletics directors would be briefed on their role in the ministry’s overall policy, and the division of labor between the Ministry of Sports and the Ministry of Education in the education of student-athletes, officials said.
Educators would also be briefed on dealing with matters concerning gender equality, child welfare and bullying prevention, they said.
Directors of athletics could join elective seminars on managing student athletic organizations, sports event planning, athletic safety and discussions headed by schools that have received commendations for outstanding athletic programs, they said.
An open meeting would be convened at the last day of the conference for the ministry to address concerns and design policies, they said.
A separate event for athletics directors at schools in the nation’s south would be held on Sept. 25 and 26 with a similar format, they said.
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
A white king snake that frightened passengers and caused a stir on a Taipei MRT train on Friday evening has been claimed by its owner, who would be fined, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. A person on Threads posted that he thought he was lucky to find an empty row of seats on Friday after boarding a train on the Bannan (Blue) Line, only to spot a white snake with black stripes after sitting down. Startled, he jumped up, he wrote, describing the encounter as “terrifying.” “Taipei’s rat control plan: Release snakes on the metro,” one person wrote in reply, referring
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
An inauguration ceremony was held yesterday for the Danjiang Bridge, the world’s longest single-mast asymmetric cable-stayed bridge, ahead of its official opening to traffic on Tuesday, marking a major milestone after nearly three decades of planning and construction. At the ceremony in New Taipei City attended by President William Lai (賴清德), Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shih-kai (陳世凱) and New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), the bridge was hailed as both an engineering landmark and a long-awaited regional transport link connecting Tamsui (淡水) and Bali (八里)
RSS