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Taiwan¡¦s women
tug-of-war teams grab gold in UK
Staff Writer, with CNA
Two Taiwanese women¡¦s tug-of-war teams beat competitors from five countries to
claim gold in the women¡¦s 540kg category of this year¡¦s Tug of War International
Federation¡¦s World Indoor Championships in Perth, Scotland, on Saturday.
With their win, the team, mainly composed of students from the Taipei Jingmei
Girls High School and National Taiwan Normal University, reclaimed the title
they last won in Italy in 2010. The victory also secured the team a ticket to
the next World Games, scheduled to take place next year in Cali, Colombia.
The team swept rivals from the Netherlands, South Africa, Scotland, Germany and
Switzerland in the three-round game to capture the 540kg category title. China
were the sixth country, but they were disqualified before the third round for
allegedly using cleaning agents to increase the traction of the team¡¦s shoes.
The Jingmei Girls High School 500kg team also took the championship over
Scotland, China, England, South Africa and Mongolia last night in the
tournament¡¦s finale.
The team have won three consecutive world championships as well as one Asian and
one European championship, holding all three crowns at the same time.
A men¡¦s team from National Nantou Senior High School (NNSHS) also found
themselves in a similar situation to China and were disqualified in the first
round.
The team did not accept the ruling and left the field in protest.
NNSHS principal Huang Kuo-hsuen (¶À°ê°a) said the competition rules did not contain
any regulations against using detergent and that although teams from other
countries used detergent to clean their shoes before the competition, the team
from his school were the only ones who were disqualified for doing so, adding
that it was unfair.
According to Huang, the 560kg men¡¦s team had the best chance of Taiwan¡¦s teams
to become champions in their class after having won the seven previous
first-round matches. If they had won the eighth match, they would have won their
group and gone on to the final round.
In the eighth match, the team met England and had already won the first round
and only needed to win one more. However, during the competition, the British
head referee said the Taiwanese team had used detergent to clean their shoes and
disqualified the team over the protests of both coaches and team leaders.
The NNSHS men¡¦s team were founded in 1998 and are mostly made up of Aborigines.
They have performed exceptionally well in the last few years, including winning
gold in the men¡¦s 600kg division at the 2010 Asian Tug-of-War Championships in
South Korea and third place at last year¡¦s UK Outdoor Tug of War Championships.
Additional reporting by Hsieh Chih-yu
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