Mr. Huang Guan-Chau, director of the Education Division at TECRO Japan and Ms. Lien Chen-Ling, who will be representing Chinese Taipei at the Tokyo Olympics

On June 26, the Education Division of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office (TECRO) in Japan met with Lien Chen-ling at the Komatsu Women’s Dojo Club in Tokyo to pass on encouragement. Lien is one of three highly accomplished Taiwanese judoka who will be competing in Tokyo Olympics judo events on July 24, representing Chinese Taipei. She will be competing in the women’s 57kg competition.

Lien came to Japan to study Law at Yamanashi Gakuin University. She said that when she first arrived in such an unfamiliar environment, she encountered many difficulties. She didn’t understand any Japanese and started by learning kana, but gradually she adapted to life in Japan. Yamanashi Gakuin University has a prestigious judo academy and Lien became part of the judo team. Fortunately, with the enthusiastic support of her friendly Japanese classmates and teachers, she overcame the demands of both academic life and judo, and she went on to become the first foreign student to be a leader of the university judo team. 

Lien has been good at sports ever since she was a child, and Japan’s well-equipped facilities, excellent coaching, and competitive judo environment improved her ability further. She won the first international judo gold medal in the history of Taiwan judo in the Grand Prix Budapest in 2015 and then won fifth place in the women’s 57kg competition in Judo at the Olympic Games in 2016. This is the best result of any Taiwanese judo competitor in the Olympics. 
After graduating from university, she was recruited by Komatsu Ltd., a company well-known for its support of Japanese women’s judo, and she became the first Taiwanese judoka to become a member of the Komatsu Women’s Judo Team. 

When the Education Division visited Lien on the eve of the Olympics, she was still practicing hard under the guidance of her coach, even though it was Saturday. This world-class Taiwanese judo competitor is hoping to achieve great results and win medals in the Tokyo Olympics.