TAIPEI CITY, Taiwan (Reuters) – Athletes of the Taiwan branch of the World Sport Stacking Association took up training again on Sunday (April 17), after winning eleven gold medals at the recent world championship in Germany.
Sport stacking, first played in the early 1980s, allows competitors to stack a set of plastic cups into a pyramid or other sequences in as little time as possible. The sport encompasses different disciplines including relay and doubles competitions.
The room where the athletes gather for their joint practice is filled with the sound of dozens of plastic cups being stacked together at high speeds. All of them have their own sport stacking mat, with an included timer to keep track of their progress.
Yang Chu-chun, who has been practicing since she was in sixth grade, took home four gold medals at the championship in Germany. She won the hotly contested title of fastest female athlete in her age group by breaking her own record for a full cycle of sport stacking. Her new personal best is 5.615 seconds.
“Because I am now the fastest girl in the world and because this is my high-point, there are a lot of people close behind me who want to catch up to me. So the pressure is quite high, but I am trying to overcome this, keep calm, and continue to surpass myself, to be my own opponent and keep surpassing myself,” she said.
She was able to defend her title against her two strongest opponents who come from Korea and Germany.
The young athletes practice together once a month in the association’s facilities. For the rest of the time, self-discipline is of the essence.
“I practice one hour (a day) and I steadily get faster, I really like going abroad for competitions,” 7-year-old Chang Yu-ting said, adding that she likes the feeling of reaching new personal bests. At this year’s world championship, she took home three gold medals.
Many of Taiwan’s national athletes started competing on an international level at very young age. Lee Tai-chen, who won two gold medals, is the youngest of the group at the age of six years.
“We practice together and when it’s time for the competition then we compete. Sometimes they will limit the time and those who didn’t finish just have to give up,” he said.
The next world championship in sport stacking will be held in Kaohsiung in the south of Taiwan. But before it is time to defend their titles in their home country, the young athletes are looking forward to competing abroad again, next time in South Korea.
