Taiwan taekwondo team wins big in German competition

The two gold medals went to Chao Yu-chin and Tsai Hsiao-ju, both from Taipei County's Shulin Senior High School -- the alma mater of two Olympics taekwondo athletes Chen Shih-hsin and Sung Yu-lin.

Students from the Shulin high school also won three silver and two bronze medals in the competition.

The third bronze medal was won by a student from Yulin Junior High School, also in Taipei County.

The Taiwanese team was composed solely of students from the two schools.

Shulin Mayor Chen Shi-rong, who has taken taekwondo teams from his city to competitions in the Netherlands, Germany and Austria over the past few years, attributed Taiwan's brilliant performance this year to Shulin's tremendous effort to nurture and train taekwondo athletes.

The 16 athletes who participated in this year's German Open were all winners of national competitions, according to Chen.

He said the city will continue to financially support the

participation of top Taiwan athletes in foreign competitions in order to help them improve their skills and gain competition experience.

Chang Shih-ming, president of Shulin Senior High School, which is known for turning out many star athletes, said that the technical standards of taekwondo athletes in Europe have improved significantly in recent years from a level that was below Taiwan's.

There is a lot that Taiwan can learn from the European countries, he said, noting that, for example, they had a wide range of quality taekwondo gear at the competition.

With taekwondo becoming increasingly popular in Europe in recent years, the event, organized by the German taekwondo Federation, this year attracted 1,200 competitors from 55 countries, including many world championship title holders.

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