About 90 soccer players from more than 50 countries around the world took part in the Third Taiwan International Students Soccer Festival, which ran from Friday through Sunday at National Taiwan University (NTU) in Taipei, turning the event into a mini version of the World Cup, the organizers said.
Dressed in their school’s soccer uniforms, the players braved the scorching sun in an effort to clinch victory for their schools.
“I am sure that these three days of the soccer festival will bring international and domestic students together to speak the common language of soccer and promote not only education but also [the festival], making it one of the most important cross-cultural events in Taiwan,” NTU vice president Bau Tzong-ho (包宗和) said at the opening ceremony for the tournament.
The soccer festival could serve as a platform for international students in Taiwan to establish networks and promote understanding, he said.
Pongijese Korovulavula, who is studying at National Pingtung University of Science and Technology and was the only Fijian student participating in the event, said his team had been practicing for the competition for two hours each day for the past month.
“And yes, of course, we are going to win,” he said, smiling, together with his teammate Mwiza Munthali from Malawi, who plays as a striker.
Ivan Parini of Paraguay, captain of the National Chung Hsing University team, said he had no doubt his team would win.
“We joined the festival because of our passion for the game and to have fun,” said Parini, who, along with his fellow team members Paolo Lopez and Jose Baez from Paraguay, said they had been playing soccer all their lives.
Samuel Kim and Jin Myoung-suk from South Korea, who are studying Mandarin at the Fu Jen Catholic University Language Center, said they joined the festival simply because they “like soccer.”
All the players were required to take a pledge of fair play before the tournament started.
The festival also had players from Europe, the Caribbean and the South Pacific.
National Taipei University of Technology won first place, followed by National Pingtung University of Science and Technology and Ming Chuan University. In addition to a trophy and medals, the winning team received a cash prize of NT$8,000, followed by NT$6,000 and NT$4,000 for the second and third place teams respectively.
Established by NTU’s Foreign Students Association and Office of International Affairs three years ago, the scale of the festival has grown annually, attracting 10 teams from eight universities in northern Taiwan in 2007, 14 teams from 13 universities around the country last year and 15 teams from 14 universities this year.
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