Sport in Taiwan
International-known athletes include Jeremy Lin, Tai Tzu-ying, Kuo Hsing-chun, Yu Chang, Chien-Ming Wang, Lin Yun-ju, Yang Chuan-kwang, Chou Tien-chen, Hsieh Su-wei, and Yani Tseng among others.
Due to political reasons and pressures from the People's Republic of China, the organisations or national teams from Taiwan have been competing as Chinese Taipei in international sporting events, such as the Olympic Games.
[2] At the time, Han Chinese did not have habits of exercise, so the missionaries encouraged students to swim, play, and run after class.
Sports like gymnastics, racing, high jump, and hiking were brought to the Han Chinese.
[3] As part of the Japanization and the Kōminka movement, modern physical education and sports became universal systematically in Taiwan.
"[4] To promote sports in Taiwan, the Japanese leader in Taiwan encouraged the establishment of different sports clubs, including martial arts, equestrian, shooting, bicycle, tennis, badminton, soccer, bowling, and gymnastics.
[5] When the Kuomintang-led government took back Taiwan from Japan in 1949 and started the national-wide martial law, freedom was restricted and life was strictly regulated under the party-state system.
In addition, television became universal in Taiwan during the 1950s and the number of home TV increased drastically.
The government commanded major TV stations in Taiwan to live broadcast national team competitions, which successfully drew nationwide attention to sports.
[9] In addition, the multiple versions of the "Sports and Physical education Strategy White Paper" published since 1999 highlighted the dedication of the Taiwanese government to develop local sports and promote physical education in public.
A notable example is, Shosei Go (Wú Chāngzhēng), nicknamed "The Human Locomotive", whose mastery of both pitching and batting won him election to the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1995 after his retirement.
Taiwan has been "exporting" baseball talents to Japan and United States over the past few decades, such as Tai-Yuan Kuo (Taigen Kaku) to the Seibu Lions, Chien-Ming Wang to the New York Yankees/Washington Nationals, and Wei-Yin Chen to the Baltimore Orioles.
In 2022, renowned NBA star Dwight Howard was recruited by the team Taoyuan Leopards within T1 League, marking history in Taiwan's basketball.
[21] Internationally, the Chinese Taipei men's national basketball team won the silver medal at the Asian Championship in 1960 and 1963 and bronze in 1973 and 1989.
To everyone's surprise, the 23-ranked team gained their first-ever victory over the host Japan (7th) on the opening day, followed by defeated South Korea (8th), Poland (9th), Kenya (11th), and Costa Rica (33rd) in the first round.
However, after a good start of five consecutive victories, the team could not continue their impressing form and eventually took the 12th placeIn December, the same squad attended the 2006 Asian Games held in Doha, Qatar.
[26] Since the 1980s, The Chinese Taipei Archery Association started to aim at medals in international competitions.
In 2002, Yuan Shu-chi became the first Taiwanese gold medalist in archery at the Asian Games by defeating two South Korean archers in women's individual event.
[27] Taiwanese competitors regularly participate in archery tournaments, occasionally winning medals in major sport events.
[30] The National Badminton Association of the Republic of China joined BWF in 1957, and annual Taipei Open was inaugurated in 1980.
1 Tai Tzu-ying in the BWF World Tour helped spur interest in the sport and contributed to the surge in popularity.
In 2021, badminton duo Lee Yang and Wang Chi-lin won gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics.
[31] They won gold again at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the first pair in badminton history to win the doubles for men twice.
[33] Professionally, Lu Liang-Huan won the French Open in 1971, for the first Taiwanese victory on the European Tour.
More recently, Chuang Chih-yuan won the ITTF Pro Tour Grand Finals in 2002.
With Chen Chien-an he won the men's doubles in 2013 at the 52nd World Table Tennis Championships.
[42] Chen Chien-an won the 2008 World Junior Table Tennis Championships in singles.
[48] Taiwanese competitors regularly participate in taekwondo tournaments from Asian Games to the Olympics.
She won Wimbledon in 2013 and Roland Garros in 2014, as well as the 2013 WTA Tour Championships, all with Peng Shuai, and became joint No.
[60] Other notable players include Tseng Chun-hsin, Jason Jung, Chuang Chia-jung and Wang Shi-ting.
