Premier Jiang Yi-huah commended and congratulated the young athletes who represented the ROC in the 27th Summer Universiade at a welcome-home banquet today.
The nation garnered four gold medals, four silvers and seven bronzes and ranked 16th out of 162 competing nations at the event held in Kazan, Russia from July 6 to 17, the premier noted.
"What's more, a number of events in which our athletes excel, such as archery, taekwondo and golf, were not included in this year's event. Otherwise, Taiwan would have earned even better results," Jiang stated.
"When weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun held high Taiwan's first gold medal, our citizens were ebullient," the premier said. "When our men's and women's table tennis doubles teams garnered golds on the same day as each other, the Taiwanese team's momentum proved unstoppable.
"The win by Lee Hsin-han and Peng Hsien-yin over the Russian team in the men's tennis doubles final captured not only another gold medal for this year but also a record of three consecutive Summer Universiade championships in this event for Taiwan.
"These outstanding achievements have not come easy. They were the hard-won results of rigorous training and hard work," Jiang emphasized.
"Preparing for competitive sports is a long and arduous process. Athletes compete not only out of personal interest but also for national honor. After being selected to participate, they have to undergo rigorous training, make personal breakthroughs and sometimes face down setbacks and bottlenecks.
"They have to remain calm at the tensest times and do their best in the most crucial moments to achieve ideal results. This is extremely difficult.
"Therefore, I commend all our Universiade athletes. You have not only surpassed yourselves but also made your nation proud and established a new benchmark for future Taiwanese delegations.
"In addition to praising and thanking the athletes, I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to the coaches and staff who tirelessly contributed off-camera to their success. I am especially grateful to Chinese Taipei University Sports Federation President Vincent Han-sun Chiang and his staff for all their work behind the scenes to set the athletes at ease and help them completely focus on their own events."
The premier further pointed out that Taipei has been awarded the right to host the 2017 Summer Universiade, which will be a bigger sporting event than any yet held in Taiwan and thus may pose great challenges to the country's organizers and athletes alike.
"I expect selection, training and coaching for that competition to begin as early as possible so our team will reach new heights of success and bring our nation glory," he said.