24 are charged in game-fixing scandal, while a star pitcher makes news of a different kind.
Global Post, February 12, 2010
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan baseball took another hit this week as prosecutors charged 24 people Wednesday in connection with the pro-league's worst game-fixing scandal yet.
A probe was launched last October after the end of the Taiwan pro league's season.
Turns out the scope of the alleged corruption was far wider than fans feared. Those charged included three star players, a prominent local politician and five bookies, according to local press reports.
More than 40 other players were found to have colluded with gambling rings to fix games, and some of those may be charged after the Chinese New Year vacation, which runs through next week.
The lurid scandal involves allegations that gambling rings and crooked politicians used offers of cash, cars and prostitutes — and if all that failed, threats — to induce pro baseball players to throw games.
Baseball expert Yu Jun-wei said Taiwan's pro league would likely hobble on this year, despite the cloud of graft.
"They will still continue to operate the league, but I'm not really optimistic about attendance this year after what happened," said Yu, especially since one of those charged was the "Golden Warrior" Chen Chih-yuan, star outfielder for Taiwan's most popular team the Brother Elephants.
Yu said he was surprised that so many teams and players were involved in the alleged corruption. And he was "shocked" at reports that gambling rings had recruited players to throw games while they were still in high school, years before they'd even made in into the pro league.
"They approached these kids through a coach at the high school, so when they got to the pro league, they could control those players," said Yu.
Prosecutors are seeking the heaviest punishment — nine years in jail and a $1.5 million fine — for a local politician allegedly involved in threatening players and betting on games. A Japanese manager was also charged, as was the "Windshield Wiper," the nickname for the head of an alleged gambling ring.
Prosecutors said the alleged game-throwing took place over four seasons (2006 through 2009) and local media even speculated that players on Taiwan's national team may have deliberately lost to China in the 2008 Olympics.
Meanwhile, the Taiwan media was also buzzing with the latest on pitcher Wang Chien-ming, dubbed "Taiwan's Glory."
He's been a national hero here since making it onto the New York Yankees' pitching roster, with dedicated fans staying up into the wee hours or skipping work to watch him pitch live, American time.
Wang fever hit a peak in the 2006 season, when he won 19 games and came in second (behind Johan Santana) in voting for the Cy Young award.
His star began to fade, though, after injuries and poor performance saw him dropped from the Yankees' roster of starting pitchers last year. He had shoulder surgery last July.
This week's good news: Wang, now a free agent, may be within days of signing as a starting pitcher for another Major League team.
The bad news: That team may well be the Washington Nationals — the worst team in American baseball. (They chalked up a league-worst record of 59 wins and 103 losses last year, the mirror image of the Yankees 103-59 performance.)
Baseball bloggers went nuts over the news (see a rumor roundup). Chico Harlan, writing in the Washington Post's Nationals Journal, got a hold of Wang's agent Alan Nero, who said Thursday there was no deal yet.
"Once again, I don't know where everybody is getting info," he said, asked whether an informal or verbal agreement was in place with the Nats. "There is no [deal], and won't be for another week or so." Nero said unequivocally that Wang is still open to offers from any club in baseball. "We haven't finalized anything with anybody," he told Harlan.
Taiwan media noted that the Nationals were the "worst" (zui cha) team in American pro baseball. But baseball expert (and fan) Yu said Taiwanese would likely change their loyalty to whatever team Wang played for, even if they were the Bad News Bears of the major leagues.
"I don't know if many people know about the Nationals," said Yu. "But I'm not disappointed. As long as he can start for a team, I think it will be good."
For some professional players, losing is an offer they can't refuse.
Global Post, October 31, 2009
TAIPEI, Taiwan — At a sports bar here in late October, Stanley Fu, 25 and Zoe Chang, 23, were glued to the TV screen, watching their beloved Brother Elephants baseball team battle for the league title.
They may be enthusiastic fans, but their cynicism became clear after a few questions.
Taiwan's pro baseball league has long been plagued by game-fixing scandals, in which players have "thrown" games in collusion with gambling gangsters or crooked politicians.
Asked if they trusted that what they were watching on TV was for real, they both laughed nervously.
"The players don't make enough money, so they can make more by cheating," Fu said. "There are only four teams now (in the league) because of gambling. They all have problems — I think the Brother Elephants have a problem too."
Fu was more right than he knew. Less than a week later, prosecutors launched a probe into more game-fixing charges, involving current and former pro baseball players, including Elephants.
So far, eight players have been named as defendants, along with a bookie nicknamed the "Windshield Wiper" who was part of a gambling ring.
The Elephants lost the league title Oct. 25, in the seventh game of an error-riddled series against the Uni-President 7-11 Lions. Now the probe — launched a day later — has many here lamenting that Taiwan's "national sport" has become its "national shame."
"We've been hurt badly this time," said Richard Wang, a spokesman for the pro league.
Since the league's launch in 1990, there have been five game-fixing scandals. The first and most famous was the 1996 "Black Eagles" affair (the name was inspired by American baseball's own 1919 "Black Sox" game-fixing scandal), in which an entire team was found to have regularly thrown games for a $270,000-per-loss payout.
Typically, Taiwanese gangsters have intimidated players into throwing games, and punished those who haven't cooperated. In 1996, gangsters pistol-whipped one Elephant and stuck a gun in another's mouth because the team wasn't performing badly enough. One manager was stabbed and other players abducted the same year.
Yu Jun-wei, a historian of Taiwan baseball, said the island's corrupt political culture "spilled over into baseball" in the 1990s, after some gangsters won elected office.
"Many politicians saw the popularity of baseball and wanted a stake," Yu said. "So they would just purchase players to fix the games."
According to leaks to Taiwan's media, prosecutors think this time around, players were motivated strictly by the carrot (payoffs), not the stick.
If the scandal causes any of Taiwan's four pro teams to fail, the pro league might have to disband, observers said. That would put baseball back on an amateur footing here, and mark the worst crisis yet for Taiwan's favorite sport.
"It's going to have a major impact," said Chris Day, a spokesman for the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, about the scandal. "This thing hasn't stopped in more than a decade, and every time the allegations are worse and worse — players get kidnapped by mobsters, and it gets blown out in the media."
But Day said the island's dedicated baseball fans are "resilient," and usually come back to the stadiums after they forget about the most recent scandal.
Taiwan's love affair with baseball goes back more than a century. American do-gooders and colonizers brought baseball to Japan, South Korea and the Philippines in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The Japanese, in turn, brought the sport to Taiwan after colonizing the island in 1895.
Taiwan's baseball glory days are likely behind it now. The islands' Little Leaguers were world champions for most of the 1970s. The pro league exploded in popularity in the early 1990s with a distinctly Taiwanese twist.
Teams are named after their sponsoring corporations, not home cities as in the U.S., thus teams names such as the "La New Bears" (named after a shoe brand), and the now-defunct "Chinatrust Whales" (named for a bank).
The commercialization has at times gotten out of hand. Taiwan baseball expert Andrew Morris described how teams have dubbed their foreign players, mostly American and Dominican pitchers with Chinese names for an instant noodle brand, "Budweiser" (Baiwei), "Miller" beer (Meile), and for one darker-complexioned Dominican player, "Miller Dark" (Meilehei). Some of the foreign players have been implicated in game-fixing, too.
Many Taiwanese have a typically pragmatic view of why so many players cheat: They're not paid enough. Salaries average $3,000 per month, but should be three times that, says Richard Lin, secretary-general of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association. The pro league has no free-agent rights, another long-standing gripe from players.
But a lack of tough anti-gambling laws and enforcement is also to blame. The league says it is drafting guidelines on free agent rights, has been working with legislators to get tougher laws and had more protection this year for players by local law enforcement.
If the current allegations prove true, though, such steps may be too late to save the league.
TAIPEI — The latest baseball scandal to hit Taiwan has many gloomy about the future of a sport that has given the island an identity.
On Monday, prosecutors opened an investigation into whether players in Taiwan’s Chinese Professional Baseball League deliberately lost games in exchange for payoffs. Former players and alleged gambling ringleaders have been detained. On Wednesday, the police questioned nine more players, eight were named as suspects, according to local media.
The allegations include the play of the Brother Elephants, the island’s most popular team, as it lost the Taiwan Series to the Uni-President 7-11 Lions. The Lions won the seventh, and final, game Sunday.
Taiwan’s 20-year old professional baseball league has been plagued by such corruption scandals. Gangsters have in the past intimidated players, but this time, a spokesman said, prosecutors have ruled out the possibility that players were threatened or intimidated.
But league officials had been upbeat recently, saying game attendance had bounced back this season, that the government was doing more to promote the game and that the tiny league — numbering only four teams after others folded amid scandal or financial losses — was retrenching.
For many Taiwanese, the stakes are far higher than a mere sport’s survival. Baseball is one of the few arenas in which Taiwan has won recognition on the world stage.
“In the past, we used baseball to raise our morale and reinforce our national identity,” said Yu Jun-wei, author of a recent book on the history of baseball in Taiwan and a professor at National Taiwan Sport University in Taichung. “It still serves a political purpose. China always says we’re part of their territory. But we can use baseball to prove to ourselves and others that we still exist in international society.”
Yu said the scandal was especially damaging because it involved the Brother Elephants and one of its top stars — the pitcher Tsao Chin-hui, the first Taiwanese to have played in U.S. major league baseball, for the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Colorado Rockies.
Tsao was one reason attendance rose this season, his first in Taiwan’s professional league, reaching an average of 4,000 per game, double last year’s dismal showing, according to the league.
Tsao maintains his innocence but said prosecutors had searched his home.
Richard Wang, director of international affairs for the league, said prosecutors had searched the Brother Elephants’ dormitory Monday, seized three cellphones and detained two former baseball players. He said on Tuesday that the league had been “hurt badly” by the latest allegations.
“It’s devastating, for sure,” Wang said. “If what the media said is true — that players were voluntarily cooperating with bookies — that’s really bad news.”
“In the past, players were throwing games under pressure and threats from the mafia. If this time there were no threats or pressure, and it was just the players’ greed, that’s really sad.”
The Japanese brought baseball to Taiwan after they colonized the island in 1895.
Taiwan’s string of Little League titles in the 1970s confirmed that the game was a rare arena for the island to shine internationally. The victories were a sorely needed morale booster in a decade in which the United States broke diplomatic ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing as the legitimate government of China and Taiwan lost representation in the United Nations.
Many Little League heroes went on to play in Taiwan’s first professional league, established with high hopes in 1990.
Since the peak of “baseball fever” in the early 1990s, though, the game’s fortunes have waned. Attendance has plummeted, as has television viewership, especially after satellite channels brought U.S. Major League Baseball and basketball into Taiwan homes.
Last year, Taiwan’s league had shrunk to four teams, down from 11 in two leagues in the late 1990s, after the dMedia T-Rex team was kicked out amid game-fixing allegations and the Chinatrust Whales folded.
Worse, though, was Taiwan’s loss to China’s team at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Not only is China an obvious political rival, it also had virtually no history of baseball until very recently, compared with Taiwan’s century of play.
“It was a humiliation, because we always thought our standard was much higher than China’s,” said Professor Yu. “Baseball is one of the few sports we can beat them at.”
The loss sparked a round of soul-searching and government commitments to shore up the game. A second loss to China at the World Baseball Classic in March prompted the island’s then-prime minister to declare the Taiwan team’s performance “unacceptable.”
According to Lance Lan, an official at the cabinet-level Sports Affairs Council who was previously involved in baseball promotion, the government has adopted a four-year, 1 billion Taiwan dollar, or $31 million, plan to help turn the sport around. “It’s to help upgrade our country’s baseball, especially at the grass roots,” he said.
If the game-fixing allegations prove true, the grass roots may be the only thing left. Chris Day, a spokesman for the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, said the Brother Elephants’ coach had publicly vowed last year to disband the team if its players were found to be involved in throwing games.
“The Brother Elephants are a major team — they’re like the New York Yankees of Taiwan,” said Day. “If they close down, it’s going to be very hard for the league to sustain itself.”
“This isn’t four guys sitting down and cheating at mah-jongg, it’s a matter of lying to the whole public and baseball-loving population here,” Day said.
Richard Lin, secretary-general of the Chinese Taipei Baseball Association, said that better compensation and free-agent rights could also help keep players honest. He said players’ salaries averaged just 100,000 Taiwan dollars a month but should be triple that.
Regardless of the scandals, though, baseball will remain Taiwan’s national pastime, Lin said, because Taiwanese baseball heroes, like the New York Yankees pitcher Wang Chien-ming, continue to inspire younger generations.
Basketball may be all the rage, but few Taiwanese are physically able to compete on the level of the National Basketball Association or in international team competitions.
“Taiwanese like baseball because they know we have a chance to get a championship, or at least second or third place,” Lin said. “But in basketball? Impossible.”
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan — China snubbed the opening ceremony. A tropical storm forced the canoe polo indoors. And female Brazilian athletes scandalized Taiwan by going topless on a local beach.
But aside from those hiccups, the World Games 2009 — an obscure sporting event run under the patronage of the Olympic Committee but featuring non-Olympic sports — was celebrated in a closing ceremony Sunday as a smashing success.
"The 2009 World Games in Kaohsiung have been the best games ever!" said a punchy International World Games Association president Ron Froelich to a screaming crowd Sunday night.
This year's games had an especially apt setting. Taiwan, the island-nation that craves greater recognition, played host to 31 sports that are fighting for more respect (korfball, fistball, ultimate frisbee).
Sure, it's easy to ridicule a sports event that features competitive "canoe polo" and "artistic roller-skating." But the athletes showed just as much heart as Olympians. And for sheer entertainment value (and novelty), I'll take the World Games.
The Russians came out on top in Kaohsiung, grabbing 18 golds and 47 medals total — compared to the U.S. haul of 13 (26 overall). Italy and China followed Russia in the gold medal count.
Iraq sent one jujitsu athlete who failed to get a medal; ditto the Pakistani beach handball team.
One of the Games' mottos, "The World is Watching," was clearly an overstatement (or wishful thinking — no U.S. broadcaster picked up the Games). But for those few who were tuned in, the Games were a quirky, down-to-earth answer to the over-hyped and security-choked Olympics.
Overall, Taiwan did a great job as host. Japanese architect Toyo Ito's sci-fi, serpentine Main Stadium got rave reviews, and was truly stunning at night — though it was too bad the Games couldn't make more use of the venue (it hosted the opening and closing ceremonies, ultimate frisbee and rugby).
The opening ceremony featured some brilliant creative touches, while avoiding the bombast of last year's ceremony in Beijing. Temple gods rolled into the stadium on neon-lit scooters, in a combination of traditional and contemporary Taiwan. Later, a phalanx of middle-aged "shiqu mama" — community moms, who can be seen doing evening exercises in parks across Taiwan — danced to a throbbing techno beat.
Taiwan was more than prepared to handle the media. At many venues' media centers, volunteers far outnumbered journalists, and security guards would wander in to snatch up all the uneaten snacks. The Taiwanese themselves gave their typical good-humored, humble welcome to foreigners.
"We're still not good enough to compare with the Americans and Australians," taxi driver Tsou Ching-kun said, complaining about Taiwan's athletes. At one subway station, a worker made my day by asking, "Are you an athlete?" Nearby, a young Taiwanese girl tried out a korfball net they'd put up at the station.
"We felt it was time to let Chinese Taipei (the name Taiwan is forced to use in international sporting events, due to China's objections to recognizing it as a state) show that they have the ability to bring an international event of this level to Chinese Taipei," said International World Games Association president Ron Froelich, at one press conference.
Later, asked about China's no-show at the opening ceremony, a clearly frustrated Froelich told me, "I was sad that China deprived its athletes of the chance to meet with other athletes."
"I've told the Chinese myself, 'How can you do that?'" he said.
China never explained its boycott, though observers speculated it had to do with Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou's presence to kick off the ceremony, or fears of the behavior of pro-independence Taiwanese spectators.
At the closing ceremony, Kaohsiung mayor Chen Chu trumpeted Taiwan's freedoms, in an indirect jab at authoritarian China. "We're a democratic country, so you can see flags of all colors here in this stadium," she said. In the stands, spectators waved green-and-white flags with the word "Taiwan" in English (green is the color of the pro-independence party here) — a display sure to set Chinese nationalists' teeth on edge.
But for the most part, politics stayed on the sidelines as the Games' sports — including the oddball ones — took the stage. Below, a few highlights and explanations from the Games.
Sprechen sie fistball?
Turns out fistball is most popular in German-speaking countries, where it's called "faustball." I talked to a couple of Swiss fistball fans who'd travelled around the globe to support their team. Switzerland, Germany, Austria and Namibia (a former German colony) all have clubs.
"It's a long trip, but it's nice to be here," said Roger Beeler, 23, from Jona, Switzerland. Asked if he liked Taiwanese food, Beeler pointed at his stomach and waved his other hand from side to side in the international gesture for "not so much."
Fistball is similar to volleyball, with a couple of twists. The ball is served from the front row instead of the back, and can bounce once on the other side before being hit, as in tennis. In Kaohsiung, the world champion Austrian team got dethroned, with the Brazilian team taking gold and the Swiss team, silver.
Not just Japanese anymore
The scandal-ridden sport of Sumo is increasingly dominated by non-Japanese. (see articles here and here). But at the World Games, Japanese men won two golds, with a Mongolian and Hungarian wrestler winning the other two.
The American male Sumo wrestlers (including lightweight Trent Sabo and heavyweight Kelly Gneiting from Colorado) have their work cut out from them to compete on the world stage, though. They made a valiant effort, but got handily bounced out of the ring by superior foes.
On the women's side, the heavyweight event was dominated by hulking athletes from eastern Europe — Russia, Ukraine and Poland, in that order. Trust me, you wouldn't want to meet any of these women in a dark alley. Play was delayed at one point so the Polish competitor could re-wrap her mawashi.
Steel plum-blossoms trounce all
As expected, the Taiwan women's indoor tug-of-war team marched to victory. Even for jaded correspondents, their performance was awe-inspiring. Competing like the cliched "well-oiled machine", they crushed the U.K., trounced Ukraine, shellacked South Africa and decimated Japan before beating the Netherlands in the hard-fought finals.
It was amazing to watch their opponents writhe and grimace on one side, as the "steel plum-blossoms" gazed impassively ahead, betraying no hint of emotion, then marched backward in unison to victory. Team anchor Chen Li-hui calmly observed the opponents from the back and guided the team, sporting a top-tail sprouting from her head ("It's my habit, for competition," she told me afterwards.)
In the finals Taiwan employed a Muhammad Ali rope-a-dope strategy, letting the Netherlands gain a few centimeters and wear themselves out, before finally launching a killer counter-attack.
Dunking? It's not "cooperative"
Korfball — Dutch basketball — looks fun, but isn't likely to win much respect in N.B.A.-mad America. The athletes' average-size height and an 11 1/2 foot-high basket ("korf") prevented any dunking. An N.B.A. star like Yao Ming could probably do it, but would likely rip the flimsy-looking korf off its pole in the process.
At any rate, such self-aggrandizing behavior would be frowned on as against the "cooperative" nature of this co-ed sport. There's also not much of a physical or running game. Aggressive defense and dribbling are both no-nos. And each eight-person team is divided into an offensive and defensive side (two men and two women each) that can't cross the center line (offense and defense switch roles every two goals).
Players often made what we used to call in elementary school "granny shots" — under-handed throws that would get you laughed off the court. Tempers flared in the final pitting the Dutch world champs against Belgium, with the Belgians indignant at some of the referee's calls.
Clash of the kayaks
Canoe polo was much rougher and more exciting than I expected. It starts from the opening, when the ball is tossed to the middle of the pool. Both sides' teams rush to get to it first, resulting in a head-on kayak collision at full speed.
Later, players paddled over each other's kayaks and pushed opponents underwater. It was hard to tell what, if anything, constituted a foul, aside from smacking an opponent in the face with one's paddle.
On the men's side, the Netherlands won handily over the French, despite a large contingent of chanting French fans.
World Games girls gone wild?
Beach handball got a lot of attention in the local media for the clinging micro-outfits worn by the buff female athletes. Local TV ran side-by-side shots comparing the "waiguoren" (foreigner) uniforms' with the Taiwan team's slightly more conservative look. I couldn't see much of a difference, quite honestly.
Later, scanty garb hit the news again when a few Brazilian female athletes decided to sunbathe topless on a beach in Kaohsiung, in full view of several police and children. The police appeared flummoxed and came in for media criticism for not getting the girls to cover up more quickly.
Taiwan may use scantily-clad "la mei" (spicy girls) to sell everything from computer parts to hot-pot soups. But when it comes to going topless on the beach, the island's conservative side comes out.
Didn't know the US has the world's best ultimate team? You're not alone.
Global Post, July 21, 2009
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan — America's world champion ultimate frisbee athletes don't take themselves too seriously. Still, they wouldn't mind getting a bit more respect.
"Sure, it would have been a lot cooler if Obama had called me up and said 'Good luck to you, bro,'" said star Team USA member Beau Kittredge.
Kittredge and his teammates grabbed the gold medal Tuesday night at the World Games here in Taiwan, beating a scrappy Japanese team in a hard-fought, physical match in front of an enthusiastic crowd.
Not that most Americans would know. No U.S. broadcaster picked up World Games coverage, and the U.S. media presence (aside from yours truly) was zero.
Ultimate frisbee may be one of the fastest-growing recreational sports in the United States, but it's still fighting to shed its image as a campus quad past-time for the patchouli crowd, and be taken seriously on the world stage.
"The goal is to get more people to know that ultimate's a real sport with real athletes," said Kittredge after the team's gold medal match. "We train just as hard as anyone else in any other sport. And if anyone thinks we don't, they're welcome to step on the field."
Part of the challenge is that it's such a young sport. Recreational frisbee was the post-war invention of a U.S. World War II veteran, and ultimate dates to a New Jersey high school in the late 1960s. It's only caught on outside America in the last couple of decades.
Now, young Americans are flocking to the sport, said Team America 2009 captain Gwen Ambler. There were 4.9 million ultimate frisbees players last year, up from 4 million in 2007, according to statistics cited here, and Ambler said some 600,000 of those play the sport at least 20 times a year. "Some of the growth and recognition is germinating now," Ambler said. "So I'm optimistic in the long run."
Could it ever become an Olympic sport? "The Olympics isn't adding team sports, it's cutting them — so that would be a hard sell right now," Ambler said. "But the fact that it's gotten such a good reception here is a good sign for the sport's marketability, and its appeal to fans."
Jonathan Potts, president of the World Flying Disc Federation (so named to avoid the use of the trademarked term "Frisbee"), agreed, saying graduating to the Olympics would be "in the very distant future," due to the sport's limited resources.
"We're on a steep learning curve," said Potts, who was "tweeting" the progress of competition from Kaohsiung. "We're clearly not ready for the Olympics in terms of organizational capacity."
Then there's the question of whether the sport even wants to go Olympic. The game is unique among team sports in being referee-less, with a strong emphasis on "spirit" and sportsmanship. Potts says going Olympic could involve compromising those founding values. "Right now we're against having referees, because it violates the spirit of the game," he said.
Call it ultimate's awkward adolescence — the game's not sure what it wants to become, and how seriously it wants to be taken. In Kaohsiung, the teams balanced the intense on-field attitude of world-class competition with a friendly, relaxed vibe off the field.
Ambler said the team "plays best when really loose," so they kept it fun in the lead-up to the finals — with karaoke on team bus rides, impromptu dance sessions and playings of Ludacris' "On Top of the World" in the locker room. Teammate Chelsea Putnam sported a gelled Mohawk hairdo for competition, and Ambler "poofed" hers out.
But make no mistake: training was a grueling, six-month process. Twenty Team USA members were chosen from 130 that applied; that was whittled to 13 who made the cut to go to Kaohsiung. (Seven took the field at a time, four men and three women; ultimate is the rare co-ed team sport.)
Many of the athletes are members of elite U.S. clubs — Ambler, for example, plays for Fury, a San Francisco Bay-area women's ultimate club.
And as with any world-class sport, the players devoted countless hours to getting in top physical and mental shape. Given that, the lack of recognition can be frustrating.
"It was distressing how little media — none — was happening in the U.S. about this," said Cassey Crouch, the mother of gold medalist Cara Crouch, 26. "A bone thrown to them would have been nice. They worked very hard."
Cassey and her husband Michael, of Sugar Land, Texas, said their daughter played soccer before, but started ultimate nine years ago at the University of Texas at Austin. "We love watching it," Cassey said. "The passion for the game is unbelievable."
That was clear in Kaohsiung on Tuesday night where excited Japanese and U.S. fans alternated cheers of "Nippon" and "U.S.A." from the sidelines.
Will that passion translate into more eyeballs and media attention? Stay tuned for the next World Games in 2013 — in Cali, Colombia.
Beijing, in Snub to Taipei, Boycotts a Sports Ceremony
New York Times, July 7, 2009
TAIPEI — China boycotted the opening of the 2009 World Games on Thursday night, apparently as a snub of the host, Taiwan.
Taiwan is hosting the World Games at the port city of Kaohsiung. Some 4,800 athletes from 105 nations will compete, according to the event’s official Web site.
Aurora Yang, from the Kaohsiung Organizing Committee Media Liaison Office, said by telephone that 77 mainland Chinese athletes had completed the application process for competing in seven sports, including fin-swimming, boules and water-skiing. But none of them showed up for the opening ceremony.
“We don’t know why they didn’t come, and we didn’t get any official announcement, so we can’t comment,” Ms. Yang said.
Local media cited a Kaohsiung official as saying that mainland athletes were in Taiwan but that they did not register to take part in the opening ceremony.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of its territory and protests any suggestion that the self-ruled island is a separate state. But the ceremony Thursday night was held in accordance with past practice at the Olympic Games and other international sporting events, under which Taiwan competes as “Chinese Taipei” and cannot fly its national flag.
Antonio Chiang, a media commentator and former government official, speculated that Beijing’s no-show may have been related to the appearance by President Ma Ying-jeou of Taiwan, who opened the World Games.
“It makes a very bad impression on Taiwan,” Mr. Chiang said of Beijing’s snub. “And it’s a mockery of Ma Ying-jeou’s policy.”
Taipei and Beijing each claim sovereignty over China and have refused to recognize each other since they split in 1949 after the civil war. But Mr. Ma, who took office in May last year, has improved ties with the mainland through a series of commercial deals.
The World Games, held every four years, offer competition in non-Olympic sports.
Canoe polo, the "Billiards Babe" and something called, er, fistball? Welcome to the World Games.
Global Post, July 16, 2009
TAIPEI — Call it the "other" Olympics.
Every four years, in the summer following the Olympics, some of the finest athletes on the globe assemble for one of the world's most obscure sporting events: the World Games.
World Games athletes are often just as dedicated as Olympians. But for one reason or another, their chosen sports are non-Olympic.
Some are former Olympic sports that got bumped due to changing tastes and times (tug-of-war, softball). Some aren't taken seriously enough on a global scale (Sumo wrestling, bodybuilding).
And others sound like something from a Monty Python skit – canoe polo, korfball (that's Dutch basketball), fistball (similar to volleyball), tchoukball (don't ask, it's a ball sport).
Since 1981, World Games athletes have competed in the shadow of their far better-known Olympic counterparts. This year these games are seeking a bigger spot in the sun, with more athletes, events and spectators than ever.
Organizers say 4,800 athletes will compete in 31 sports, compared to just 1,265 athletes in 18 sports at the first World Games in Santa Clara, California.
The 2009 World Games also have a geopolitical twist: they're being hosted by Taiwan — the "other" China — a year after Beijing hosted the Olympics.
China views self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory, to be unified by military force if need be. Of late, the two sides have enjoyed warmer relations, under a new, China-friendly president here. But there's a limit to such coziness: China still frowns on any official suggestion that Taiwan is a state. So, while 77 Chinese athletes will compete in the World Games, China boycotted Thursday night's opening ceremonies.
Due to China's sensitivities, Taiwanese athletes must also compete as "Chinese Taipei", under a special flag – even though they're on their own soil (Taiwan is not allowed to fly its national flag at World Games venues).
That's the result of a compromise struck to allow Taiwan to participate in global sports events.
Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou presided at the World Games opening ceremony in Kaohsiung — Taiwan's "second city." It's an industrial port metropolis once notorious for its pollution. But in recent years it's something of a make-over; its "Love River" waterfront area is now a tourist draw.
Kaohsiung has pulled out all the stops to raise the World Games' — and Taiwan's — profile on the world stage. It's built two new stadiums and dredged a lake that will be used in water sports. "Sport marketing is one strategy Taiwan is using to promote itself," said one World Games official.
But so far the results have been mixed. Some of the World Games' trappings seem derivative.
Take the Kaohsiung World Games' mascots — twin, pink and blue droplets named "Gao-mei" and "Syong-ge." They look like what might result if one of Beijing's Olympic mascots mated with a Teletubby.
And a much vaunted new stadium — built at a cost of $150 million — has been derided as a knock-off of Beijing's Bird's Nest.
Still, the stadium, designed by Japanese architect Toyo Ito, is Kaohsiung's star achievement. Despite an exterior that recalls the Bird's Nest, it boasts a curvy horseshoe shape. And it's the world's most "green" stadium, with 9,000 solar panels that provide 80 percent of the stadium's energy needs.
Will Kaohsiung's push win more respect for the World Games?
That remains to be seen. As of Thursday, only 60 percent of available tickets had been sold — a poor showing compared to last year's Beijing Olympics, which sold out its 6.8 million available tickets.
Below, a preview of the action, drawn from information on the official World Games' website.
So let the games — the other games, that is — begin. Here's a handy guide on what to look for.
THE UNITED STATES:
Look for U.S. athletes Jack Huzcek and Rocky Carson to dominate in racquetball, Natalie Grainger to go for the gold in squash (she's currently ranked #2 in the world), and a medal run by U.S. bowlers Chris Barnes and Stefanie Nation.
Unfortunately, the Games do not have a broadcaster in the U.S., a Games spokeswoman said.
SAMPLE EVENTS:
Artistic roller-skating (July 21 and 22): Look for the Italians to dominate this event. Naturally.
Billiards (July 22-26): In this closely watched event, it's the "Billiard Babe" — Austria's Jasmine Ouschan (a 2005 gold medalist) against the "Pool Queen" — Taiwan's own Chang Shu-han.
Bodybuilding (July 18 and 19): A crowd favorite looks sure to be the Bahamas' Paul Wilson, known to his fans as "Mighty Mouse."
Dragon boat (July 17 and 18): Despite its Eastern origins, the Germans are the team to beat. Look for a strong showing again this year.
Canoe polo (July 17 and 18): Taiwan's team has momentum, coming off a recent win in the Asian Canoe Polo Championships.
Fistball (July 17 through 20): The Austrians are favorites in this event, which is similar to volleyball.
Korfball (July 17 through 21): Dutch for "basketball." The twist: baskets (korfs) are 11 1/2 feet off the ground (compared to 10 feet in basketball) but can be approached from any direction, and teams are co-ed. The Dutch dominate, not surprisingly, but Taiwan will try to knock them off their perch.
Latin dancing (July 24 and 25): Yes, it's really a sport — one of three "Dance Sports" at the World Games (the others are "Standard" and "Rock 'n Roll"). A Russian duo is ranked #1.
Sumo wrestling (July 17 and 18): Germans are strong here too -- one top contender is Nicole Hehemann.
Synchronized trampoline (July 20 through 22): Expect the Japanese power duo of Shunkuke Nagasaki and Masaki Ito to go bounce-for-bounce with the French team of Martiny Sebastien and Pennes Gregoire.
Tug-of-war (July 18 and 19): Taiwan's women's indoor team, profiled here, will defend its world crown.
And here's a full schedule of all events (all times Taiwan local time, GMT +8, 12 hours ahead of East Coast U.S. time).
Indoor tug of war? The key is good training. A little political trash talking doesn't hurt, either.
Global Post, June 15, 2009
TAIPEI — Taiwan can't claim global dominance in many sports. But here's one: women's indoor tug of war.
It may sound like Asia's answer to Jamaican bobsledding. But don't laugh. The island's team takes the sport very seriously. And since 2005, they've been the best in the world at what they do.
They'll try to retain the gold at this summer's World Games in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, against a strong team from Japan and, possibly, a rising rival: the rope-tugging ladies from China.
China's team hasn't yet decided if it's coming. If they do, it could set the stage for a repeat of last year's showdown in the World Indoor Championship in Italy.
That encounter quickly turned political — and ugly, according to Taiwan's coach and athletes.
It all started with a display of Taiwan's national flag. That's a no-no at international sporting events (Taiwan's coach said it was an honest mistake by the host).
China sees Taiwan as part of its territory and strongly protests against the display of any flags or symbols suggesting Taiwan is a sovereign nation.
So Taiwan — or officially, the Republic of China — is forced to compete in the Olympics and other international events under the name "Chinese Taipei." It also uses a special flag featuring a plum blossom, Taiwan's national flower.
In Italy last year, the Chinese team protested loudly at the flag display, and then turned the flag around, according to Taiwan's team.
Then came the political trash-talking.
"They would say, 'you are a part of us,'" recalled Chen Li-hui, 26, a veteran of Taiwan's national team since 2000.
Big mistake. Taiwan's ladies didn't take kindly to such provocation.
"We could have beat them very quickly," said Chen. "But instead, we tortured them slowly before making them lose."
So how did Taiwan get so good in this obscure event? Tug of war's origins are murky. But in modern Asia, Japan has been the master of the sport.
A Taiwanese sports official began promoting the sport here a few years ago, and spent time in Japan learning the best techniques. The 36-year-old coach of Taiwan's indoor women's team, Chen Tzuen-long, also trained in Japan.
That paid off in 2005, when Taiwan's women grabbed the gold at the World Games in Germany (the games are held every four years, the year after the Olympics, and see competition in non-Olympic sports only).
"Before we were quite bad in competition, so we were really happy," said Chen, the team member. "It was unexpected."
At a high school gym earlier this month, Taiwan's ten-woman team (only eight compete at one time) had their game faces on. After chalking up and wiping their special, no-slip shoes dry, they trained with defense and endurance drills against a men's team.
The men sweated and grunted in rhythm, while the ladies coolly leaned back at a sharp angle, only gradually giving ground. Chen, the veteran team-member, took up the key anchor spot in back, the rope coiled around her.
Most competitions last only 60 to 90 seconds, said Coach Chen; the winner is the team that can pull the rope four meters to their side.
Coach Chen said their training against men gives them an edge against other teams. He said Japan's team was also older — with most of their women over 40, giving them an advantage in experience but less strength.
Taiwan's squad, by contrast, are mostly in their early 20s. They're all from a poor, rural county in southern Taiwan, and beat other squads across the island to become the national team. Coach Chen says half of them grew up in single-parent families.
"The most important goal for them is improving their family situation," he said. The payout for a gold medal is NT$600,000 [about U.S. $18,350] per person, the coach gets nothing.
But China's team is rising fast. As in many fields, it has proved to be a quick study.
Hayashi K, former head of Japan's tug of war association, said he took a team to China three or four years ago to share practice techniques and equipment. At that time, "China was very poor, they could not get any prizes."
But since then, he says, Chinese steel and cosmetics companies have formed their own tug-of-war teams, fostering national competition. And they've absorbed the lessons Hayashi taught them. It paid off, with China's #2 win last year. "I couldn't imagine China could become so strong," Hayashi said.
But Chen, the team-member, said Taiwan is still "99.9% confident" they can win this year.
"It's an honor to represent Taiwan, but we're afraid of losing, especially this time, since the Games are in Kaohsiung and a lot of people will come," said Chen. "So we feel some pressure."
The coach echoed her assessment. "We're not afraid of any team," he said. "The most important thing our athletes need to overcome is the pressure."
Showtime for the event is July 18 and 19 in Kaohsiung; Taiwan's ladies are ready to rumble.
All stories on this site are by Jonathan Daniel Adams. From 2004 to 2011 I was a journalist based in Taipei, Taiwan, writing for Global Post, Christian Science Monitor, the International Herald Tribune and others. I reported from Taiwan, China, the Philippines and Japan.
