Taiwanese breakers who are competing at the World DanceSport Federation’s World Breaking Championship in France should have received public funding to travel, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Mark Ho (何志偉) said yesterday.
The event is to take place in Paris on Saturday and Sunday.
Ho told a news conference at the Legislative Yuan co-hosted by the Chinese Taipei Dance Sport Federation that after the federation asked for his help, he raised NT$200,000 to help pay for the team’s stay at quarantine hotels in Paris for two days.
Photo: CNA
While Sports Administration policies allow for reimbursements after a competition, the upfront costs are beyond what could be reasonably expected of the athletes at the championships, he said.
Three university students and a conscript on active military service make up Taiwan’s breaking team, he said, adding that they practice in their personal time.
Lee Yi-fu (李奕釜), chairman of the federation’s breaking committee, said that the process of applying for reimbursements has been plagued by delays and red tape.
Liu Chih-chiang (劉志強), deputy chairman of the committee, said that the breakers “are dealing with enough stress as it is and should not be troubled with working part-time to pay for the trip.”
The agency should pay at least 50 percent of their travel costs up front, Liu said.
A Sports Administration spokesman said that the agency would strive to improve support for dance sports athletes.
When asked whether former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator Shen Chih-hwei’s (沈智慧) federation has contributed to the event, the spokesman said that their two sports entities are not affiliated.
“Shen is more than welcome to help, but our understanding is that the problem stems from the wait time for reimbursements,” he said.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
The Civil Aviation Administration yesterday said that it is considering punishments for China Airlines (CAL) and Starlux Airlines for making hard landings and overworking their cabin crew when the nation was hit by Typhoon Kong-rey in October last year. The civil aviation authority launched an investigation after media reported that many airlines were forced to divert their flights to different airports or go around after failing to land when the typhoon affected the nation on Oct. 30 and 31 last year. The agency reviewed 503 flights dispatched by Taiwanese airlines during those two days, as well as weather data, flight hours
Three people have had their citizenship revoked after authorities confirmed that they hold Chinese ID cards, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said yesterday. Two of the three people were featured in a recent video about Beijing’s “united front” tactics by YouTuber Pa Chiung (八炯) and Taiwanese rapper Chen Po-yuan (陳柏源), including Su Shi-en (蘇士恩), who displayed a Chinese ID card in the video, and taekwondo athlete Lee Tung-hsien (李東憲), who mentioned he had obtained a Chinese ID card in a telephone call with Chen, Liang told the council’s weekly news conference. Lee, who reportedly worked in
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
RSS