Tour de Taiwan

Tour de Taiwan is a professional road bicycle racing event on the UCI Asia Tour. Tour de Taiwan was established by Giant Sports Foundation Founder King Liu in 1978. The first race began in Taipei, through Western Taiwan, Southern Taiwan, Eastern Taiwan, and finally ended in Taipei.

This cycling tour championship is recognized by Union Cycliste Internationale in 2005, and is integrated with the Taipei Cycle Show, organized by Taiwan External Trade Development Council, in 2006.

Past winners

* 2003 Ghader Mizbani, Giant Asia Racing Team
* 2004 Moritz Milatz, Merida Europe Team
* 2005 Ahad Kazemi, Giant Asia Racing Team
* 2006 Kirk O'Bee, Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis
* 2007 Shawn Milne, Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis
* 2008 John Murphy, Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis

Sports Affairs Council

Sports Affairs Council is a council under the Executive Yuan, the executive branch of the government of the Republic of China . It was established in mainland China and relocated to Taiwan after the defeat of Kuomintang in the Chinese Civil War.

History

The Sports Affairs Council was established in 1932. At the time, however, it could not function because the state was at . In 1973, the Department of Physical Education was established under the . The department was upgraded to a council directly under the Executive Yuan in 1997.

Seal

The seal of the Sports Affairs Council is consisted of three different colors: blue, green, and red. The color blue represents freedom and energy, green represents development, nature, health, and harmony, and red represents passion.

The shape of the seal is combined with three different elements: ume, sun, and human. The ume is used as it is the national flower of the ROC. The sun represents energy and the human represents humanity.

Sport in Taiwan

Sports is a somewhat popular activity in Taiwan. However, due to 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 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 . These players include New York Yankee'sChien-Ming Wang Chien-Ming Chiang . 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'' was held in March 2007.

Football

Due to Japanese 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 , which in turn runs the national teams for and and several domestic competitions.

The top league of football, the Enterprise 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 in Kaohsiung.

At youth level, there are Highschool Football League, , 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.

Tennis

In recent years both male and female tennis players from Taiwan got solid results and rankings. Lu Yen-hsun and Wang Yeu-Tzuoo has been ranked Top 100 . 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
* 2007: Taipei/Taichung - Baseball World Cup
* 2007: Taichung - Asian Baseball Championship
* 2009: Kaohsiung - World Games

National High School Games

National High School Games is the largest multi-sport event for junior and senior high school players in Taiwan. The Games started in 1952, under the name of Taiwan Provincial High School Games . It is now controlled by and National Sports Council, Executive Yuan. The host city changes every year.

Sports

The following sports are National High School Games official programs:
* Athletics
* Archery
* Badminton
* Football
* Gymnastics
* Handball
* Judo
* Karate
* Martial arts
* Soft tennis
* Swimming
* Table tennis
* Taekwondo
* Tennis
* Weightlifting
* Wrestling

Results

Football

The football program at the National High School Games is probably the most important event for high school football teams in Taiwan. In each group, 8 teams are selected to compete in the final round after playing in the qualifying tournaments.

U-19 men

U-16 men

U-19 women

U-16 women

Hosts

* 2007: Tainan County
* 2006: Hsinchu City
* 2005: Chiayi County
* 2004: Hualien County
* 2003: Tainan City

List of sporting events in Taiwan

This is a list of international sporting events in Taiwan:

Chinese Taipei at the Olympics

The Republic of China currently competes as Chinese Taipei at the Olympic Games. The ROC first participated at the Summer Olympic Games in 1932. After the Chinese Civil War, the ROC retreated to the island of Taiwan, and only Taiwanese athletes competed in the Olympics from 1952 to 1976. In 1952, the Taiwanese team withdrew from the Olympics. Taiwanese athletes continued to participate in the games under the name "Republic of China" from 1952 to 1976, although it competed in the 1964 and 1968 Summer Olympics under the name "Taiwan".

The People's Republic of China refused to join the Olympic movement as long as the ROC competed under that name, or as "Taiwan". The International Olympic Committee adopted a resolution in 1979 to use the ''Chinese Taipei'' designation for Taiwan, and since 1984, both the PRC and ROC have attended every Games. Chinese Taipei has its own .

Taiwanese athletes have won a total of 19 medals at the Summer Games, with taekwondo as the top medal-producing sport. The nation has never won a medal at the Winter Olympic Games.

Medalists

Medal tables

Medals by Games

;As the ''Republic of China'':

;As ''Chinese Taipei'':

Medals by sport

Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee

Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee is the National Olympic Committee representing the Republic of China, . In 1979, the International Olympic Committee passed a resolution in Nagoya, Japan, resuming the rights of the Chinese Olympic Committee in the IOC, and meanwhile renaming the Taipei-based Olympic Committee as "Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee" .