Sport in Taiwan

Sports is a somewhat popular activity in Taiwan. However, due to political reasons and pressure from the People's Republic of China, Taiwan had been known as Chinese Taipei in international sporting events like the Olympic Games. The most popular sport in Taiwan is baseball, it is also commonly considered as the national sport for Taiwan.

Types of sport

Baseball

Baseball is the most popular sport in Taiwan. It was brought to Taiwan when the Japanese ruled Taiwan. The professional baseball league in Taiwan is called the Chinese Professional Baseball League or simply CPBL. The main playoff competition is the Taiwan Series.

There are many Taiwanese baseball players playing in Japan and the US. These players include New York Yankee'sChien-Ming Wang (王建民) Chien-Ming Chiang (姜建銘). In 2006 the Taiwan national baseball team won the gold medal in the Doha Asian Games after winning the game against Japan.

Basketball

Basketball is also fairly popular in Taiwan. The Taiwanese basketball league, founded in 2003, is called the Super Basketball League or SBL, but is relatively weak compared to other national basketball leagues. Sean Chen, one of the top players of the league, was eliminated in the last round in the tryouts for Sacramento Kings of the NBA.

Cycling

"2007 Tour de Taiwan" (2007年國際自由車環台賽) was held in March 2007.

Football (soccer)

Due to Japanese (long before the J. League made football popular in Japan) and American influence, football has not been as popular as baseball or basketball in Taiwan, although it has a history of success at the Asian level. Football is run by the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA), which in turn runs the national teams for men and women and several domestic competitions.

The top league of football, the Enterprise Football League (formerly National First Division Football League), is relatively semi-professional and dominated by two teams, Tatung F.C. from Taipei and Taiwan Power Company F.C. from Fongshan. As an incentive, the Asian Football Confederation runs the AFC President's Cup continental club competition for countries where football is relatively undeveloped, and these two clubs often take turns representing Taiwan in it.

Besides Enterprise Football League, CTFA set up the Intercity Football League in 2007. Different from the former, the latter groups players by their places of residence. Usually the Enterprise Football League is held in the first half of the year, and Intercity Football League in the second half.

There are many amateur football clubs run by foreign expatriates within Taiwan, but they run their own amateur competitions. An example is 100 Pacers F.C. in Kaohsiung.

At youth level, there are Highschool Football League, National Youth Cup, and football program in the National High School Games.

Marathon

Marathon races are held in many places in Taiwan each year. Many marathoners from all over the world participate in these races. In the 2007 Carrefour Taipei International Expressway Marathon, African runners dominated both men and women divisions. [Central News Agency " [http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=416385&lang=eng_news&cate_
] " "Taiwan News", 2007-03-26]

Tennis

In recent years both male and female tennis players from Taiwan got solid results and rankings. Lu Yen-hsun (盧彥勳) and Wang Yeu-Tzuoo (王宇佐) has been ranked Top 100 (Lu's highest rank is no. 80 in February 2007, and Wang's was 85 in March 2006). Both of them set records for Taiwanese tennis history. As of the female, before the new generation that included Chan Yung-jan, Chuang Chia-jung and Hsieh Su-wei rised, Wang Shi Ting was the most well-known tennis player in Taiwan. Wang Shi Ting was ranked No. 26 in 1993.

Volleyball

Starting from 2004, Chinese Taipei Volleyball Association holds the Enterprise Volleyball League every year. It is a men's amateur volleyball league. In total 5 teams participated in the 2007 season.

Major sport events

* 2001: Hsinchuang City - Asian Baseball Championship
* 2005: Kaohsiung - WPA World Nine-ball Championship
* 2006: Taichung - Intercontinental Cup (baseball)
* 2007: Taipei/Taichung - Baseball World Cup
* 2007: Taichung - Asian Baseball Championship
* 2009: Kaohsiung - World Games

See also

* Chinese Taipei at the 2006 Asian Games

Notes