張心怡
It is not so often to see Taiwan players in world sports news. When you
finally see some, for example, baseball players, you cannot help but
feel a certain sense of pride. Significantly, in recent years, it is
the billiard players of Taiwan who have made their presence known at
world tournaments. But this has not come easy.
Many parents in Taiwan do not want their children to play billiards
because they worry that the game may distract their children from
schoolwork. The impression they have of the billiards parlors is that
many dropouts and crooks hang out there; moreover, the smell of
cigarettes and the lure of alcohol will likely corrupt their children.
Against such parental prejudice, billiards players of today have
established a new image for the sport. To begin with, billiards became
an official event in the World Games 2001, and it is very possible to
become an official event in the Olympic Games of 2008. This is an
important step in billiards history and it is also a good opportunity
for people who love billiards to show Taiwan people that billiards is a
healthy sport. In addition, in the World Games 2001, Yang Qing-Shun
from Taiwan won the first prize, along with other players who have also
made very good performance in many tournaments, including Zhao Feng-Bang,
Chen Chun-Chen, and Liu Shin-Mei.
Playing billiards calls for precise skills and lots of practice, so that
people can learn how to concentrate and how to handle things carefully.
Furthermore, compared with other kinds of sports, billiards is a much
safer game. Considering all these, parents should really encourage
their children to go and learn to play billiards. If the children work
hard on it, maybe one day they can win the first prize in international
tournaments, too.