Hackers attacked the Web site of the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) after it punished Taiwanese athlete Yang Shu-chun (楊淑君) for protesting her disqualification at the Asian Games in Guangzhou last month, media reported yesterday.
On Tuesday, the federation announced it was suspending Yang for three months and her coach, Liu Tsung-ta (劉聰達), for one year and eight months over a ringside protest about her disqualification for allegedly using extra sensors on her socks.
“Still unfair,” hackers wrote on the federation’s Web site on Tuesday night, Central News Agency reported.
PHOTO: YEH SHIH-HUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
The Seoul-based federation announced the suspensions in a -letter to the Chinese Taipei Amateur Taekwondo Association. It also fined the association US$50,000 for “negligence and wrongdoing” for its role in the controversy.
“The outcome was worse than expected,” association chief Chen Chien-ping (陳建平) said.
Chou Rui (周瑞), deputy director of the Sports Affairs Council’s International Sports Department, said the council was not satisfied with the ruling.
“We will continue by preparing an appeal for Yang at the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland,” he said.
Yang’s bout was stopped and she was disqualified while leading 9-0 in the first round because her socks, with detachable electronic sensors, were ruled illegal. However, video footage of the fight showed that she had removed the sensors before the bout began.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Justin Chou (周守訓) asked the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to step up diplomatic pressure on South Korea to help Yang clear her name.
During a meeting in the legislature, Chou asked Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Thomas Hou (侯平福) to find out if Representative to South Korea Benjamin Liang (梁英斌) had clearly explained the matter to the WTF.
“I was really angry [at the WTF ruling] … the ministry must toughen the government’s position,” he said.
The ministry should intensify diplomatic measures, Chou said.
“You can’t just sit there and say this is the sports council’s -business,” Chou said, adding that the controversy should be treated as a matter of diplomatic affairs.
Chou said the ministry must help Yang clear her name and defend the interests of the nation.
Hou told lawmakers that he was “as angry as [Chou].”
“I am afraid there isn’t much the ministry can do, as WTF members are all South Koreans,” Hou said.
However, he said he agreed with Chou that the government “should not accept the results.”
The coast guard drove away 567 Chinese boats and seized seven illegally operating in Taiwanese waters in the first six months of this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. They mostly operated near Kinmen and Penghu counties, resulting in fines totaling NT$1.7 million (US$52,440), it said. Three ships — two near Kinmen County and one near Penghu County — were detained in January for illegally crossing the border, while one ship each was detained near Kinmen in February and Penghu in March respectively, it said. The ship seized near Penghu in January was the Yun Ao (雲澳), detained by the CGA’s
Military photovoltaic projects have been found to have used Chinese-made devices blacklisted by the government, including Huawei Technologies Co routers, the Ministry of National Defense’s Armaments Bureau said on Thursday. An ongoing investigation has identified the illegal use of 128 current transformers, two routers and a data reader at the Hungchailin Army Base, Pinghai Navy Base and Tri-Service General Hospital’s Songshan branch, it said. The devices were manufactured in the Chinese factories of German solar energy equipment supplier SMA Solar Technology, Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Delta Electronics Co, Chinese electronics manufacturer Huawei and Taiwanese industrial PC maker Advantech Co, the bureau said. The bureau’s
Hong Kong’s Andy Lau (劉德華) on Wednesday announced that he would perform in Taiwan for the first time since 2013, with four shows at the Taipei Arena from Oct. 31 to Nov. 3. The concerts are part of Lau’s upcoming “Today... is the Day” tour, which began in Shanghai yesterday. He is also to perform in Singapore and Malaysia as part of the tour. In a news release, Lau said it felt good to be able to rehearse his dancing and singing for the tour, even though he had to don a face mask. “Holding these concerts has been something I have
Beijing’s recent provocative actions against the Philippines in the South China Sea were partly meant as a “dress rehearsal” for the invasion of Taiwan, former US deputy national security advisor Matt Pottinger said at a Heritage Foundation forum in Washington on Tuesday. Beijing’s blocking of a Philippine resupply mission on June 17 with unprecedented violence had multiple implications. “What they’re doing is trying to demonstrate that they can blockade, create a sense of futility and discredit the idea that the United States is going to help not only the Philippines, but by extension Taiwan,” Pottinger said. Pottinger was referring to a clash