The year of 2020 has marked the 11th year of the “Flying Elephant Scholarship” of the China Development Foundation. The program sponsors financially challenged junior high or elementary school students who demonstrate potential in sports, dance, art, music, and other skills so that they have a level chance to cultivate their talent. The Foundation is pleased to announce that two scholarship recipients Ms. Han Yu-Zhen and Ms. Zheng Zhu-Yun have pulled off remarkable achievements this summer. Ms. Han, a student from Hsin Chuang Senior High School of Kaohsiung achieved tier-1 badminton player qualification* before graduation while Ms. Zheng of the Kaohsiung Municipal Sanmin Senior High School won women’s doubles championships in two national junior tennis tournaments.
“I would like to express my deep gratitude for China Development Foundation’s sponsorship so I could focus on my training and not worry about the financial burden,” said Ms. Han following her qualification for the tier-1 badminton team. Ms. Han grew up in a family of modest means. The school team coach identified her talent and recruited her. She has been accepted by the Department of Physical Education of the National Kaohsiung Normal University and is ready to unfold a new chapter in her life. She recalled that she was the only female member on the school team in her elementary school years,. The intense practice with male teammates was physically demanding, yet, she persisted and thrived. Her teammates gave her the nickname of “Little Tai Tzu-Ying,” a Taiwanese professional badminton player ranked world No.1 in the women’s singles. Ms. Han’s solid training has equipped her with the skills to excel in her games. She played in the semi-finals of national games, which qualified her for the tier-1 qualification before graduating from high school.
The other recipient, Ms. Zheng has won the scholarship for five years. This year, she won the women’s doubles championships in two national junior tennis tournaments in the U16 category (one in Taichung and the other in Hualien). Her national ranking in the U16 group has jumped to No.10.
China Development Financial has been long committed to philanthropy via China Development Foundation. The Flying Elephant Scholarship aims to help resource-lacking teenagers in Taiwan develop their talent and potential. The Foundation has also financed students of vocational education since 2017. It has sponsored over 380 students thus far, granting amount totaling more than NT$5,000,000. The program is now open for applications. For more information, please visit http://www.cdibf.org/
*The Chinese Taipei Badminton Association holds two qualification tournaments every year, and only the top three tier-2 players in singles and the top two teams/players in doubles in tournament will qualify as tier-1 players.
