Sport in Taiwan (Chinese Taipei)
Sports is a popular recreational activity in Chinese Taipei, and the most popular sports include team sports like football, basketball, baseball and softball. Individual sports are also very popular like tennis, taekwondo, archery, table tennis, golf and cycling.
Dragon boat racing is popular in TaiwanChinese Taipei is the agreed upon name to differentiate the Republic of China from the People's Republic of China mostly for international events like the Olympics, Asian Games, and other major sporting events. See also sport in China.
The most popular spectator sport in Taiwan is baseball mainly due to the Japanese and American influence in the region. It is in fact considered as the national sport. Some of their top players have gone on and played internationally like Tai-Yuan Kuo who played for the Seibu Lions (Japanese professional baseball team), Chien-Ming Wang who played for both the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals, and Wei-Yin Chen for the Baltimore Orioles. Their national team is considered as one of the top ten teams in the world.
When it comes to a sport that the people actually play, basketball is the king. Men and women play basketball with a national basketball league established for both. The men's national basketball team took the silver in the 1960 and 1963 Asian Championship and the bronze in 1973 and 1989. The women's team took the silver in the 1972 Asian Basketball Championship and bronze eight more times from 1965 to 2005. They also took the silver in the 2006 Asian Games.
Below are details of sports, sporting events and sports people related to Taiwan. Is there something missing? If you know of something that should be listed here, please let us know.
Popular sports of Taiwan
- Baseball, Football (Soccer), basketball, golf, softball, martial arts, tennis, volleyball
Taiwan Sporting Success
- Yani Tseng is the youngest player ever (male or female) to win five major championships. In 2012 was ranked number 1 in the Women's World Golf Rankings.
Great athletes from Taiwan
- Yang Chuan-kwang (male, Decathlon)
- Chi Cheng (female, Track and Field)
- Yani Tseng (female golfer)
- Wang Jianming (a pitcher for the New York Yankees)
- Wei-Yin Chen (baseball)
- Taigen Kaku (baseball)
Taiwan Sports trivia
- Taiwan or Chinese Taipei first competed at the Olympic Games in 1984.
- Taiwan became the first country to boycott the Winter Games when they refused to change their name from the Republic of China, as the IOC tried to appease China in 1980
Taiwan at major events
- Taiwan at the Summer Olympics
- Taiwan at the Winter Olympics
- Taiwan women's football team at the FIFA Women's World Cup
Past sporting events hosted in Taiwan
- 2001 Baseball World Cup
- 2007 Baseball World Cup
- 2009 World Games held in KaohsiungÂ
- 2009 Summer Deaflympics
- 2013 World Modern Pentathlon Championships
- 2015 WBSC Premier 12 co-hosted by Taiwan and Japan
- 2017 Summer Universiade
- 2023 World Baseball Classic (co-hosted with Japan and USA)
Upcoming sporting events in Taiwan
- 2024 WBSC Premier 12 co-hosted by Taiwan and Japan
- 2025 Summer World Masters Games
Annual sporting events held in Taiwan
- Tiawan Tennis Open
- Tennis: Tiapei Open
- Cycling: Tour de Taiwan
- Taipei Marathon
Sporting Facilities in Taiwan
- World Games Stadium, Kaohsiung
- National Sports Training Center
Other
- Taiwan participates in the East Asian Games.
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