Cabinet begins preparations to upgrade Sports Administration

Taipei, Aug. 15 (CNA) The Cabinet on Thursday kicked off preparations to upgrade the Sports Administration under the Ministry of Education (MOE) to ministerial level.

At a press briefing, the Sports Administration's deputy head Fang Jui-wen (房瑞文) said a task force charged with drafting necessary legal frameworks and preparing for the agency's reconstitution had been set up at an earlier Cabinet meeting.

The ad-hoc group will be led by Executive Yuan Secretary-General Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫), with Olympic medalists badminton player Lee Yang (李洋) and weightlifter Kuo Hsing-chun (郭婞淳), as well as retired table tennis player Chuang Chih-yuan (莊智淵), among others, serving as advisors, Fang said.

Deputy Education Minister Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) emphasized at the press event that the proposed ministry was not merely an upgrade of the sports agency but rather an overhaul of Taiwan's sports policy.

The current policy has focused on concentrating government resources on a select group of elite athletes with the hope of winning more medals for the country, the deputy minister said.

However, such a policy has fallen short of adequately addressing the needs of individual athletes and fostering the development of the sports industry in Taiwan, he added.

With the proposed upgrade, Chang Liao said the government would allocate more funds to popularize different types of athletics and promote the sports industry with the ultimate goal of building Taiwan into a "sports powerhouse."

He cited the growing popularity of badminton, driven in part by the Olympic successes of Tai Tzu-ying (戴資穎) and other players, and the subsequent proliferation of badminton courts across Taiwan as an example, suggesting that similar efforts be made to promote other sports at the community level.

With that in mind, the Cabinet also decided to establish an affiliated organization simultaneously under the planned ministry to promote the sports industry.

Speaking of that planned sports industry development center, Minister without Portfolio Shih Che (史哲) told local media on Wednesday that it would become the third public body under the proposed ministry, in addition to the National Sports Training Center and the Taiwan Institute of Sports Science in Kaohsiung.

According to Chang Liao, the task force set up under the Cabinet on Thursday will strive to send a bill to reconstitute the sports agency to the Legislature for approval later this year or next year.

The proposed upgrade is part of President Lai Ching-te's (賴清德) policy pledges made in his inaugural speech on May 20.

At that time, Lai said the government would establish a "ministry of physical education and sports development" with a top priority to integrate sports into "the daily lives of the public."