The sacred Universiade flame crosses gorgeous gorge and mountainous terrain on Chinese Taipei’s eastern seaboard during the most recent stages of the torch relay

TAICHUNG, CHINESE TAIPEI – The Universiade flame continued its journey, crossing the country’s mountainous eastern coast late last week and over the weekend.

Jun Han Yang, holder of Chinese Taipei’s national record in the 100 and 200 meter athletics events, anchored the relay run through Hualien County. Many of the torch escorts were national record holders who call Hualien home.  

On Thursday, the torch relay crossed through Hualien County and one of the eight wonders of Chinese Taipei, Taroko Gorge. Yi-Ze Wang, a silver medalist table tennis doubles player from the 2011 Summer Universiade, and the taekwondo Olympic gold medalist Shih-Hsin Chen helped carry the torch through a stunning route marked by the high mountains and sheer cliffs of the gorge.

 The torch passed through the famous tourist attraction, the Longteng Bridge, on Saturday

On Saturday, the tour route passed through Miaoli County’s world famous wood carving centre of Sanyi Township. With the relay coming through on a weekend, the streets were lined with people out to cheer the torchbearers on as they passed by, showing the warmth and vigor of the mountain town folk.

Torchbearer Yi Xuan Zeng, the taekwondo gold medalist at the 2007 Bangkok Universiade and the 2009 Belgrade Universiade, carries the flame past the iconic National Taichung Theatre before the 2017 Taipei Summer Universiade  

On Sunday, torchbearers carried the flame by the city of Taichung’s new iconic landmark, the National Taichung Theatre. Local sports legend Yi-Xuan Zeng, a two-time Summer Universiade gold medalist in taekwondo, made a fitting choice to carry the torch into Taichung. Zeng’s torch handover was preceded by an exciting school cheerleading team performance.

The mayor of Taichung, Chia-Lung, said during the torch’s handover ceremony that the Universiade is the biggest event Chinese Taipei will hold this year before going on to emphasize how having his country’s capitol city host the Universiade would help his city achieve the vision of “Taichung sport city.”

The torch will now travel south for tomorrow’s part of the 22-leg tour. The torch relay route through Chinese Taipei consists of four stages, each for the letter of love. Hualien County, Miaoli and Taichung helped comprise the “O” stage, with tomorrow kicking off the “V” portion of the tour.