Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors say the new swimming pool next to the newly inaugurated Taipei Track and Field Stadium doesn’t meet international competition standards.
The organizing committee for the 21st Summer Deaflympics Taipei 2009 spent NT$600 million (US$18.3 million) to build the indoor pool, but with only eight lanes it doesn’t qualify for international competition, which requires 10 lanes.
The committee is planning to rent a pool in Hsinchu County for the Deaflympics but the pool operator has yet to agree to a deal
Taipei City councilors Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) and Chang Mao-nan (張茂楠) said the fault lies with the city, which failed to provide enough practice space in its renovations plans for the stadium. To expand the practice space, the city was forced to reduce the number of lanes in the pool to eight.
Taipei Sports Office Director Fang Chen-kun (房振昆) said the pool became part of the Songshan District sports center after the original design was changed, and was not built for the Deaflympics.
Civil society groups yesterday protested outside the Legislative Yuan, decrying Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) efforts to pass three major bills that they said would seriously harm Taiwan’s democracy, and called to oust KMT caucus whip Fu Kun-chi (傅?萁). It was the second night of the three-day “Bluebird wintertime action” protests in Taipei, with organizers announcing that 8,000 people attended. Organized by Taiwan Citizen Front, the Economic Democracy Union (EDU) and a coalition of civil groups, about 6,000 people began a demonstration in front of KMT party headquarters in Taipei on Wednesday, organizers said. For the third day, the organizers asked people to assemble
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