Taiwan’s tug-of-war teams on Saturday won three gold medals at this year’s TWIF World Indoor Championships in Helsingborg, Sweden, including a milestone triumph in the men’s 600kg division.
On the first day of the tourney’s first championship category, the women’s team defended their title in the 500kg division, while the country’s mixed team also won gold in the under-23 560kg division.
The men’s team followed up with the country’s first-ever title in the 600kg division.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan’s Tug of War Association
The gold in the men’s 600kg division was one of the goals they set coming into the tournament this year, national Tug of War Association secretary-general Cho Yao-peng (卓耀鵬) said.
Referring to the 2026 TWIF World Indoor Championships, which are to be held in Taiwan, Cho said: “This gold boosts a lot the morale of Taiwan’s men’s tug-of-war teams, proving that Taiwan can perform as well in men’s events as in women’s.”
The feat came after club matches on the first two days of the event, in which Taiwanese teams finished with two golds in the women’s 540kg and U-23 mixed 560kg, as well as one bronze in the men’s 600kg.
Photo courtesy of coach Liu Tsu-yin
Taiwan competed in six events of the championship category and were to vie for the title in the women’s 540kg, men’s 560kg and mixed 580kg yesterday, the last day of the tournament.
In other news, Taiwanese taekwondo athlete Su Po-ya (蘇柏亞) on Saturday won the gold in the women’s 53kg class after beating Mathilde Dumas of Canada at the Canada Open.
Su is to compete next at the US Open, which starts on Feb. 18.
Additional reporting by Wu Meng-ju
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
RSS