The 2026 National Intercollegiate Athletic Games (NIAG) officially opened on May 2 at National Central University. A delegation from Tamkang University, led by President Huan-Chao Keh, entered the opening ceremony venue alongside coaches and student-athletes. In addition to expressing support and encouragement for the competing teams, President Keh wished the athletes success in achieving outstanding results. This year, Tamkang University fielded 11 teams and ultimately secured an impressive total of 3 gold, 9 silver, and 8 bronze medals.

Following the opening ceremony, competitions took place across various venues. Dean of Physical Education I-Cheng Chen personally attended events to cheer on the athletes and presented special meal allowances as a gesture of encouragement. He noted that Tamkang won 20 medals this year, ranking 17th among 125 participating institutions and placing first among private universities without sports-related academic departments. He expressed gratitude to the coaches for their dedicated guidance and to the athletes for their tireless training efforts. “While we congratulate the medalists on their outstanding achievements,” Chen said, “we also recognize the hard work and dedication of every participant. We hope they will continue to improve, strive for personal breakthroughs, and demonstrate exemplary sportsmanship in future competitions.”

In athletics, Yi-Chia Chen from the Department of Artificial Intelligence won the gold medal in the Women’s General Division High Jump. In taekwondo, Ren-Ren Huang, majoring in accounting, claimed gold in the Women’s General Division 53 kg Sparring event, while Hung-Chen Wu from the Department of Mass Communication earned silver in the Men’s General Division 63 kg Sparring event. The Tamkang University Fencing Team also delivered exceptional results. Yi-Chen Chen from the Department of Mass Communication won silver in the Women’s General Division Individual Sabre event, while Yen-Chen Chang, majoring in banking and finance, captured bronze in the Men’s General Division Individual Épée event. In team competitions, Tamkang won gold in the Women’s General Division Épée, silver in the Men’s General Division Épée and Men’s General Division Foil, and bronze in the Men’s Open Division Sabre and Women’s General Division Sabre events, demonstrating the team’s overall strength.

Additional achievements included silver medals in Men’s General Division Doubles Soft Tennis by Deng-Yi Huang from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Chen-Chun Yang from the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, as well as silver medals in both the Men’s and Women’s General Division Team Soft Tennis events. In swimming, Po-Ya Chuang, majoring in accounting, won silver in the Women’s General Division 50-meter Freestyle. At the same time, Fang-Chieh Chen from the Department of Architecture earned bronze in the Women’s General Division 100-meter Breaststroke. In tennis, Hao-Hsiang Chang from the Department of International Business won silver in the Men’s General Division Singles event. Bronze medals were earned by Chen-Yen Hung from the Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering and Athip Poiti from the Department of International Business in Men’s General Division Doubles, and by En-Chi Chang from the Department of Accounting and Ying-Shan Chang from the Department of Artificial Intelligence in Women’s General Division Doubles. In karate, Po-Wei Lu from the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering secured bronze in the Men’s General Division Second Weight Class. At the same time, Chia-Hsuan Wu from the Department of Aerospace Engineering won bronze in the Women’s Open Division Fourth Weight Class.

Gold medalist Yi-Chia Chen, who won the high jump title in her first appearance at NIAG, was a track-and-field athlete in elementary school before taking a break and rediscovering her passion during high school. As a student in a regular academic program, she relied largely on self-training, studying videos and reviewing recordings to improve her technique. Despite limited resources, she achieved a breakthrough at the National High School Games and set her sights on challenging the competition record at the university level. Although she suffered a back injury before the competition and endured significant pain, Chen persevered with strong determination and encouragement from her coach, Associate Professor Tian-Wen Chen from the Office of Physical Education. She shared that, compared with the solitary training experience of high school, the support of university teammates and institutional resources had enabled her to continue improving. While she was disappointed that her injury prevented her from setting a personal best, she was delighted to perform consistently and win gold. She hopes to continue enjoying competition and pursuing even greater achievements.

Similarly, Ren-Ren Huang captured a gold medal in her first NIAG appearance. She explained that she attended a sports-focused junior high school and specialized in taekwondo, but after transferring to a regular high school program, she repeatedly fell short of medal success despite continued hard work. As a result, this gold medal represented the culmination of years of perseverance.

After entering Tamkang University, Huang faced challenges adapting to reduced training time and a new competition system. With encouragement from teammates, family members, and coaches, she successfully overcame these obstacles. She expressed sincere gratitude to all of her coaches, especially mentors Ching-Hung Sung and Fu-Chieh Yang. “Seeing Coach Yang at the competition venue gave me tremendous confidence,” she said. Huang believes she still has room for improvement and plans to use this achievement as a stepping stone toward competing in the more challenging Open Division events and continuing her pursuit of excellence.

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