President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday handed over the Olympic flag to the national team in a ceremony in Kaohsiung, where he also awarded them a NT$200,000 bonus, weeks ahead of the opening of the Summer Games in Paris.
Speaking at the National Sports Training Center, Lai congratulated the 60 athletes on qualifying for the Games, to be held from July 26 to Aug. 11, praising them for their tireless training and emphasizing the government’s commitment to supporting them as they seek to bring glory to the nation.
Taiwanese athletes are to compete in 16 categories, including shooting, archery, badminton, table tennis and boxing.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
The support provided for the national team in Paris would be “more extensive” than before, including a canteen offering Taiwanese cuisine, a training facility in the French capital for the exclusive use of Taiwanese athletes and a medical station with hyperbaric oxygen therapy equipment, Lai said.
The president urged the athletes to “not hesitate” and “just bring home the medals,” adding that at the Tokyo Games in 2021, the national team won 12 medals, comprising two golds, four silvers and six bronzes.
He made the remarks after presenting the Olympic flag to Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee president Lin Hong-dow (林鴻道) at the ceremony marking the national team’s readiness to depart for France.
The president also awarded the NT$200,000 bonus to the team, which was received on their behalf by weightlifter Chen Wen-huei (陳玟卉), who won a bronze medal in the women’s 64kg weight class at the Tokyo Olympics.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
RSS