Taiwan wins 43 awards including 2 golds at WorldSkills Competition

Paris, Sept. 16 (CNA) Taiwan scored well at the 2024 WorldSkills Competition, winning two gold, three silver and 10 bronze medals.

Taiwan also won an additional 28 "medallions for excellence" at the 47th vocational skills contest that took place Sept. 10-15 in Lyon, France.

WorldSkills is "the world's largest international skills competition" that features 1,400 young competitors from around 70 countries and regions, according to the organizer's official website.

The 58-member team from Taiwan participated in the biannual event under the designation "Chinese Taipei," with Taiwan's Minister of Labor Ho Pei-shan (何佩珊) accompanying the team to France.

Ho said she took "great pride" and "harbored a huge hope" for the future of Taiwan's vocational education after witnessing the high level of detail and execution exhibited by the Taiwanese competitors.

Tsai Yun-rong (蔡昀融) seized the gold medal in Cabinetmaking, while Chen Sz-yuan (陳思源) obtained the top award in the Refrigeration and Air Conditioning category.

Chuang Jia-you (莊佳祐), Chen Yi-zhi (陳奕誌) and Lin I-huang (林奕篁) won silver medals in Industrial Mechanics, Industrial Control and Floristry, respectively.

During a telephone interview with CNA, Tsai said that upon hearing the results he felt he had "finally made it."

Recalling his hard work in preparing for the competition, he admitted to feeling exhausted and wanting to give up.

"But I managed to hold on to it after thinking of the support from my teachers and school seniors," he said.

Born to a family with links to carpentry, Tsai said his family gave him a lot of support.

"I started practicing carpentry as a kindergarten child and took part in competitions when I was a junior high school student," he said.

For his part, Chen described himself as detail- and practice-oriented, which he said helped him overcome difficulties in pipe-fitting and welding during the competition to beat 23 other competitors.

Growing up in a family in the trade, Chen said he developed an interest in mechanics since childhood and began to learn the air conditioning trade at 15.

"It was sometimes so tiring along the way, but I would quickly turn energetic whenever I though of the support that my family and teachers gave me."

Chen said winning the gold medal was a "dream come true."

The next WorldSkills Competition is scheduled to take place in Shanghai in 2026.