The Badminton Team of Xiyuan Serior High School (西苑高中), which consists of Tien Zi-jie (田子傑), Chen Jian-you (陳建佑), Guo Bo-cheng (郭柏呈), and Zhang Ke-qi (張課琦), won the championship again in the 2012 High School Badminton World Tourament held in Portugal. The team returned home today (May 22) and was warmly welcomed by teachers and students of Xiyuan Serior High School. Tsai Bing-kun (蔡炳坤), Deputy Mayor of Taichung City, was also present to greet them and praised them as "the light of Taiwan".
After clinching the singles and doubles titles in 2011Asian Teenager Badminton Competition and the silver medal and the bronze medal in singles in World Teenager Badminton Competition, the Xiyuan Badminton Team, representing Taiwan, won again in early May the championship in 2012 High School Badminton World Tourament held in Portugal.
Xiyuan High School held a reception party today. Upon the arrival of coach Yang Hong-wen (楊鴻文) together with Tien Zi-jie, Chen Jian-you, Guo Bo-cheng, and Zhang Ke-qi, firecrackers were set off, students lined up along both sides of the entrance, Deputy Mayor Tsai and school principal Peng Tien-sing (彭添星) put on them flower wreaths and gave each a big hug.
Deputy Mayor Tsai said he was very proud of the excellent performances of the players, praising them “another light of Taiwan" making Taiwan visible to the world. He also mentioned that Taichung ranked among the top three in badminton competition in Taiwan while Xiyuan has already ranked number one in all the high schools in Taiwan. He hoped that Xiyuan will keep on the good deeds.
Deputy Mayor Tsai attributed the success of Xiyuan Badminton Team to the support of Education Bureau, the school, parent association, and the coaches. However, the contribution from the supporting companies makes the most important difference. Thus, he called upon all the enterprises to help cultivate more sport talents in Taichung
Peng Tien-sing, principal of Xiyuan High School, encouraged young men to pursue their dreams. He also expressed his thanks to coaches Yang (楊) and Qiu (邱), Shuang Xiang Yuan (雙橡園), Chengguo Extreme Sports (程國極限運動), and Land Bank (土地銀行) for providng students with an excellent training environment. He also hoped that Xiyuan Badminton Team can continue to accept all kinds of challenge and fight for more honors for the school and the country in the world’s badminton games.
Zhang Ke-qi is still a student in grade 10. He said that he was very honored to represent Taiwan in the world game; he did not expect to win the gold medal but it really made him feel good and should also serve as a motivation for him to go forward.
Wu Ang-lun (吳昂論), also a grade 10 student, said he was really very proud for his teammates with whom he has been practicing along for quite a while.
In the games in Portugal, Xiyuan Badminton Team beat all the other teams by 5:0 in primary, including Luxembourg, Turkey, Russia, Portugal and Croatia and thus advanced to the semifinal.
In the semifinal, Xiyuan beat the Chinese team also by 5:0 and again defeated the Turkish team 5:0 for the second time at the finals to win the championship. In other word, all the competitors, no matter how strong they were, did not even get a point from Xiyuan Team.