Athletics unites local communities

The 25th Taiwanese and Chinese-American Athletic Tournament took place during a heat wave this year. Held at the San Jose City College, over 50 teams from local communities in the San Francisco Bay Area participated. The event opened with a parade of martial artists, dragon dancers, lion dancers and a marching band.

Attending the tournament was Jason Yuan, the Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (Taiwan’s de facto embassy) in Washington, D.C., who also addressed the crowd. He commended the local communities for their enthusiasm and looked forward to conveying this to President Ma Ying-jeou during his transit stop in San Francisco on June 29th. Also attending was Thomas J.C. Chen, the director general of TECO in San Francisco.

Song Chen, chairman of the annual tournament, expressed appreciation to the financial sponsors and more than 400 volunteers who helped to make the event a success. In honor of this event three Olympic-style torch-lighting ceremonies were held at the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Associations in Sacramento and San Francisco, and at the Chinese Culture Center in Sunnyvale, ahead of the final one at the San Jose City College Stadium. The torches symbolize the unity of the people participating.

Honorable guests included: San Jose City Councilman Kansen Chu, Milpitas Vice Mayor Pete McHugh, Cupertino Vice Mayor Kris Wang, California State Assemblywoman Fiona Ma, California State Assemblyman Paul Fong, Santa Clara County Supervisor George Shirakawa and other local representatives.