TAIPEI, Taiwan | Po-Chun Sophiyah Liu, the 2019 IOC Women and Sports World Trophy recipient and the founder and President of the Taiwan Women’s Sports Association, received the Special Award from the Sports Administration at the annual Sports Elite Awards.
Liu became the second female award recipient for the category since the inception of the Special Award in 2014. The Sports Elite Awards were established in 1997 to honour the outstanding performance and contribution by individuals or groups to sports. Liu is also the first baseball umpire to be named the award recipient. Chinese Taipei baseball player Chien-Ming Wang and managers Hua-Wei Lin and Calvin Yeh were among the award recipients during earlier editions.
“I really want to thank the WBSC for nominating me for the IOC Women and Sports Awards back in 2019. It has totally changed my life and given me all the courage to pursue what I have been doing now.” Liu said in an interview after the ceremony.
After receiving the award from the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Liu returned to Taiwan and founded Taiwan Women’s Sports Association and Taiwan Sports Forward Association to promote gender equality in sports actively.
Liu and her associations also promoted women’s sports by providing sports clothing to teenage girls worldwide. In addition to the donations, Liu also hosted a workshop to teach teenage athletes the importance of maintaining physical boundaries and protecting themselves.
Starting in 2022, Liu and her association also teamed up with the Women in Sports Media Platform to become the driving force for the publication. The team has taken another step further to work with legislators with the 'Parliamentary Women's Sports Diplomacy Committee' to promote sports diplomacy and tackle gender equality issues from the legislative point of view. The ongoing Women in Sports International Photo Awards and upcoming Gender Equality in Sports seminar in May 2023 are among the current projects Liu and her team are working on.
“This award belongs to all who are devoted to promoting gender equality in sports, and this is the best driving force for us to keep devoting ourselves to the cause,” said Liu. “Honestly, I hope I get to put on the mask and call the games again. But now we have something more important to do.”
