The World Deaf Athletics Championships are underway through July 24 in Taipei City, highlighting the government’s commitment to promoting sports for deaf and hard-of-hearing competitors at home and abroad.

According to the Ministry of Education’s Sports Administration, the World Deaf Youth Athletics Championships, newly launched this year, took place from July 14-16. Both WDYAC and WDAC are international sporting events authorized by the International Committee of Sports for the Deaf, the SA noted, adding that their level is only one rank lower than the Deaflympics.

The WDAC has been held on a quadrennial basis since its inception in 2008. Chinese Taipei Deaf Sports Federation and Taipei City Government cooperated to organize the event and its youth counterpart this year, attracting over 300 competitors from 40 countries, the SA added.

Speaking at the opening ceremony July 17 at Taipei Municipal Stadium, SA’s Deputy Director-General Hung Chih-chang extended his best wishes to WDAC athletes. He took advantage of the opportunity to announce that Taiwan will also host the 2027 World Deaf Youth Games.

Taiwan’s delegation to the WDAC is led by An Ching-lung, a former Deaflympics decathlete, who oversees 7 other coaches and 13 athletes. The SA hailed two team members in particular, Hsu Le and Hsu An-yi, for their previous Deaflympics successes with a gold in 100-meter hurdles and three silver medals for javelin, respectively. 

The SA also recognized Team Taiwan’s excellent performance at the WDYAC, resulting in one gold, two silver and bronze medals.


Source:  Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)