Taiwan’s team will attend the upcoming Summer Universiade next month in Gwangju, South Korea. That’s despite the epidemic of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) in the country.
Sports Administration Director-General Ho Jow-fei made the announcement on Tuesday. He said they made the decision because the Universiade has an extensive disease prevention mechanism and Gwangju does not have any cases of MERS.
Athletes will stay in an athletes’ village which will be closely monitored for disease prevention. Anyone who leaves the village can have their status as a national athlete taken away from them. Taiwan’s team will also have a 24-person medical team accompanying them.
Ho said if any athlete did not want to go, he would respect that decision, even if it was made at the last minute.
A total of 237 Taiwanese athletes will compete in 16 sports in the
biennial event also known as the World University Games. The games will be held July 3-14.