Taichung City has held the Junior Asian Wrestling Championship and Asian Cadet Wrestling Championship respectively for 2 consecutive years. Mongolia has sent its team to both games, as wrestling is a specialty of the country. Mayor Lin Chia-lung of Taichung visited the Central Sports Complex and the local largest sports stadium Buyant Ukhaa Sports Complex at Ulan Bator, the capital city of Mongolia, on November 20. He took a field research on the training of the wrestling team and the operation of a large-scale volleyball game, hoping Taichung could organize related sports games well in the future. Taiwan and Mongolia are going to establish a relation, and multilateral exchanges will be necessary. Further, sport related training between the two should be continued and even intensified for learning and sharing from each other, said Mayor Lin.

Mayor Lin met the Mongolian National Olympic Committee on the morning of November 20 and the Central Sports Complex and Buyant Ukhaa Sports Complex of Mongolia on the afternoon of the same day accompanied by Tsend Damdin, the Vice President of the Mongolian National Olympic Committee. Mayor Lin also viewed the training of the wrestling team, judo tournament in international university sports exchange, and presented awards to the winners. Coincidentally, it was the time of the national volleyball game of Mongolia. The delegation led by Mayor Lin also took a field trip to understand how a game of this scale should be organized.

Mayor Lin said that he has visited Mongolia 17 years ago. In 2002, Taiwan has established a Representative Office in Mongolia. It was the time that Mayor Lin was an advisor of the National Security Council and Mongolia is under his jurisdiction of work. For this reason, Mayor Lin visited Mongolia frequently then. This is the first time that Mayor Lin visited Mongolia as the Mayor of Taichung. He was pleased that Taichung City could organize the 1st East Asian Youth Game while Ulan Bator of Mongolia is to hold the 2nd. For this reason, they could share the experience with each other. In the past 2 years, Taichung has organized the Asian Wrestling Championship with the participation of wrestlers from Mongolia. Therefore Mayor Lin specifically visited the sports facilities at Ulan Bator.

Mayor Lin suggested that exchange in all direction will be necessary for the cultivation of relation between Taiwan and Mongolia for mutual development. Taiwan will abolish the Mongolian and Tibetan Commission this year and related business will be assigned to other ministries and commissions. Yet, sports-related activities and training will be continued and even intensified. Last year, the National Science Museum, which is located at Taichung, entered into an MOU with the National Museum of Mongolia at Ulan Bator for exchange. He hoped that there will be more exchanges in different aspects for further cultivation of relation between the two in the future.

Vice President Tsend Damdin of the Mongolian National Olympic Committee mentioned that Mongolia has held many large-scale events in the past and he was pleased to share the experience with Taiwan for learning from each other. There are frequent exchanges in sports events between Taiwan and Mongolia. There are also many Mongolian youths studying and learning sports in Taiwan. He hoped that development of professionals in other areas will be launched on the basis of the frequent exchanges between Taiwan and Mongolia in sports. Taichung will hold the East Asian Youth Game in 2019 and could be served as a model for Mongolia in organizing games of the same kind. He looks forward to seeing each other in Taichung in 2019.

According to Taichung City Sports Bureau, wrestling is the most popular kind of sports in Mongolia and this country is really good at this. Mongolia has won 19 championships in the Sambo World Cup. The Central Sports Complex, one of the spots of this visit, will be the venue for the 2023 2nd East Asian Youth Game in Ulan Bator for judo tournament. The 2013 Asian U23 Fencing Championships, the 2016 AFC Futsal Championship qualifiers, and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio wrestling qualifiers were also held here.

Mongolia is holding its national volleyball game, the most prominent game of its kind in this country. Taichung is a key city for the development of volleyball game and has sound performance in the games of different levels. Further, Taichung is highly positive in promoting related games such as the Yung Shin Cup National Volleyball Championships, which is known as the “Koushien Stadium for volleyball”, was held at TieZhan Hill of DaJia for 44 times. This event has attracted more than 385 volleyball teams from all over Taiwan with some 6,000 players. This visit could provide a reference for the 2019 East Asian Youth Game in Taichung. Mongolia is also invited to send a team for participating in the Yung Shin Cup to share the passion of volleyball in Taichung.