The Sports Development Fund should receive at least NT$8 billion (US$285.66 million) each year, which should be evenly distributed among athletes nationwide, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) said yesterday.
Currently the distribution of funds is uneven and insufficient to meet the needs of representative athletes, the KMT said.
The administration should increase the number of coaches available to athletes, and should provide guidance to retiring athletes to help them transition to other sectors, it said.
Photo courtesy to the Chinese Nationalist Party
KMT caucus secretary-general Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文), caucus whip Alex Fai (費鴻泰) and KMT Legislator Jessica Chen (陳玉珍) made the comments yesterday during an online news conference.
“Lots of athletes leave their homes and move to the special municipalities to access resources, or they rely on their families to fund them,” Cheng said.
Mid-tier universities provide athletes with NT$500 to NT$8,000 per semester, while larger institutions provide NT$5,000 to NT$30,000 per semester, which is insufficient to meet training expenses, she said.
Photo: CNA
For living expenses, mid-tier universities provide monthly stipends of NT$1,000 to NT$3,000, while larger institutions provide NT$2,000 to NT$10,000, she said, adding that this does not cover living expenses, meaning athletes cannot wholly focus on training.
“On average, athletes training for the Olympics, the Asian Games or the Universiade only have about NT$15,500 per month,” Cheng said. “Reserve athletes have to make do with less — about NT$9,500 per month.”
Even those who win at international sporting events only receive an additional subsidy of NT$1,000 to NT$20,000 from the government, she said.
“Many professional athletes become coaches after their playing days are over, but of the 5,865 certified coaches nationwide, only 854, or 14.56 percent, have been hired by universities,” she said.
The government’s stipends for athletes were less than what a person could make at a part-time job, Chen said.
“How can we expect athletes to put aside their worries and focus on training when they are receiving so little help?” she asked.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in 2016 said that the government would double the budget for athletes every few years, but this has not happened, Fai said.
The Democratic Progressive Party said that the Sports Development Fund is 2.5 times bigger than it was before Tsai took office.
Sports Administration statistics show that NT$1.96 billion was budgeted for the fund in 2015, NT$2.39 billion in 2016 and NT$6.79 billion this year.
However, this is still insufficient for athletes’ needs, so the government should boost it to a minimum of NT$8 billion and for as much as NT$10 billion as Tsai promised, Fai said.
“The government should use tax breaks to encourage industry to sponsor athletes,” he said. “Our athletes’ performances at the Olympics is worth way more to the country than NT$8 billion.”
Additional reporting by Chien Hui-ju
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