Taiwan’s men’s and women’s teams successfully defended their 600-kilogram and 500-kg titles, respectively, at the 2026 World Indoor Tug of War Championships in Taipei yesterday.
The eight-man squad, which secured its first-ever title in the event in 2024, clinched back-to-back championships at Taipei Arena by sweeping the Netherlands 2-0 in the final. The team remained undefeated throughout the tournament, not dropping a single set en route to gold.
This marks the first time the prestigious tournament has been held in Taiwan.
Photo: CNA
Chen Chien-wen (陳建文), the team’s coach, said the squad extended its preparation period from eight months to a full year to defend the title on home soil.
As part of its preparation, the team collectively lost more than 100 kg in the two months leading up to the official weigh-in to meet the weight limit, only to regain 70 kg in the following three days to maximize its power for the competition, according to Chen.
Also on Saturday, Taiwan’s women’s team clinched its fourth consecutive title in the 500kg category.
Photo: CNA
Competing against teams from Vietnam, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, and the Basque Country, Taiwan finished the round-robin preliminary stage with a perfect record.
The Taiwanese squad then defeated Thailand in the semifinals before securing the title with a straight-sets victory (2-0) over the Basque Country in the final.
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. The single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, saber-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
Taiwanese paleontologists have discovered fossil evidence that pythons up to 4m long inhabited Taiwan during the Pleistocene epoch, reporting their findings in the international scientific journal Historical Biology. National Taiwan University (NTU) Institute of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology associate professor Tsai Cheng-hsiu (蔡政修) led the team that discovered the largest snake fossil ever found in Taiwan. A single trunk vertebra was discovered in Tainan at the Chiting Formation, dated to between 800,000 to 400,000 years ago in the Middle Pleistocene, the paper said. The area also produced Taiwan’s first avian fossil, as well as crocodile, mammoth, sabre-toothed cat and rhinoceros fossils, it said. Discoveries
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