Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) Two local politicians visited Chiayi County native Wu Tzu-min on Monday to congratulate her on her recent taekwondo accomplishments and highlighted the many difficulties she has had to overcome to reach a high level in her sport.
Wu won a gold medal in the under-46 kilogram division at the Sarawak Chief Minister Borneo Cup International Taekwondo (WTF) Championship 2017, which took place in Kuching, Malaysia, in mid-July.
That success came after Wu won a bronze medal at the 2017 Asian Junior Taekwondo Championships and silver at the 2017 Kazakhstan Open Taekwondo Championships in April.
Chiayi County Deputy Magistrate Wu Fang-ming noted that Wu Tzu-min was injured by firecrackers at the age of 6, resulting in major burns to her back, after which she took up dance as a form of rehabilitation.
During her last year of elementary school, Wu's parents separated, resulting in her stopping the pursuit of dance and taking up free taekwondo lessons offered by an instructor, who motivated the girl.
Even though she started taekwondo relatively late compared to her peers, she trained hard to represent Chiayi County, winning a gold medal in a national junior high school women's taekwondo competition.
During the visit Monday, Shuishang Township Chief Liu Ching-hsiang told Wu to continue to make Chiayi proud and not worry about finding funding for competition and travel expenses, saying that people were willing to support her as the pride of Chiayi.
The Sarawak Chief Minister Borneo Cup International Taekwondo (WTF) Championship started in 2007. World class taekwondo athletes from around the world gather in Kuching for the international biennial event.
