This year’s biggest sporting event, the Olympics, may be over, but in Taiwan, at least, that doesn’t mean that this year’s sporting calendar is finished. This year’s National Games are set to bring together athletes from across Taiwan in just a few days, and the National Games flame has now arrived in New Taipei City, its final destination.
Taiwan’s National Games are like a Taiwan-only mini-Olympics, pitting the nation’s best athletes against one another. Among those set to compete in this year’s edition are members of Taiwan’s Olympic contingent at this year’s Tokyo Games.
On Sunday, as Taiwan celebrated National Day, the National Games torch just so happened to arrive in this year’s National Games host city, New Taipei. And because of this coincidence in scheduling, torch bearers were invited onstage during the city’s National Day flag raising ceremony.
The National Games flame has already completed a circuit of Taiwan’s 22 counties and special municipalities. And though it’s now arrived in New Taipei, it still has a way to go before it lights up the National Games cauldron. From Sunday up through the cauldron lighting on October 16, torch bearers will also carry the flame through all of New Taipei’s 29 districts.