Taiwanese boy wins 5 gold medals at World Sport Stacking Championship in Singapore

台灣男孩在新加坡舉辦的競技疊杯世界錦標賽中奪得5面金牌

Team Taiwan takes away 24 golds, 28 silvers, and 20 bronzes, breaks 4 world records


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Team Taiwan captured 24 gold medals, 28 silver medals, and 20 bronze medals at the WSSA 2023 World Sport Stacking Championships, led by an eight-year-old boy who won five gold medals and one silver and broke two world records.

At this year's championship, which was held in Singapore from April 7-9, 30 competitors from Team Taiwan squared off against 370 athletes from 17 countries. Taking the most medals for the team was Yu Ching-jen (俞景仁), a student from Kinmen County's Jincheng Jhong Jheng Elementary School who set a world record and became the "fastest boy" in the individual 3-3-3 event of the boy's 7-8 category with a time of 1.837 seconds.

Awaiting Yu at the airport in Kinmen on Tuesday (April 11) was the school's principal, Tsai Hsueh-fang (蔡雪芳), and several of his classmates who held up a sign which read "Yu Ching-jen World Champion," reported Liberty Times. When Yu first arrived, his classmates rushed him and embraced "Kinmen's Star."

When asked how he felt about being "World Champion," he answered he was happiest that his father was going to reward him with two Nintendo Switch game cards. Yu added that if he wins another individual championship, his father said he will give him a mobile phone.

Yu's father, Yu Shao-yang (俞紹揚), said that when the boy was still in kindergarten, he bought some sport stacking cups as an educational toy for him to play with. The elder Yu gradually started to notice that his son had a talent for the sport and signed him up for training and accompanied him to Taiwan Proper to attend classes every month for at least one year.

The two also competed in the "parent-child" category at the tournament. In order to not let his son down, Yu said that he made sure to do his share of practicing and the pair managed to take fifth place.

The junior Yu teamed up with Lu You-chen from Taoyuan City's Jingxing Elementary School in the cycle category to set a world record with a time of 7.863 seconds.

The elder Yu said that stacking cups can help improve hand-eye coordination and train concentration. He said that if the Kinmen County Government is willing to invest in this sport, it does not take a lot of space or cost much, and he expressed his willingness to provide assistance to the utmost of his ability.