An 18-year-old boxer has just become the first from Keelung to make the national team. Chen Yu-chen will represent Taiwan in a contest in Kazakhstan next month. The high schooler lands more than 4,000 punches in training each day. His journey to represent Taiwan has not been plain sailing, with several ups and downs over the last few years. But his coach is confident that the young athlete has loads more potential to show off.

Gloves on, and it’s time to focus on landing a good punch. This vigorous training leaves no time for sloppiness.

Chen Yu-chen is a high school boxer from Keelung. He’s just won gold at a national selection tournament, becoming the first boxer from Keelung to join the national boxing team.

Chen started boxing just to kill time. Gradually, he fell in love with it and started to apply himself more and more. He’s gone from bluster to solid skills, but the path of boxing is not an easy one.

Li Yin
Coach
After seven months, he won his first medal at the National Middle School Athletic Games. Then when he was a high school sophomore, there were loads of strange… I guess you would say, setbacks. He lost lots of matches just by a tiny margin. He was always losing 3:2.

In his first year at high school, Chen got a new coach, Li Yin, who’s a former national team boxer himself. To use up his immense reserves of energy, the two went jogging together, boxed, and gradually unearthed Chen’s extraordinary talent. He won bronze at the National Middle School Athletic Games that year. The next year he lost out, but recommitted to his training and came back stronger in the third year. Now he’s won gold in the national trials.

Chen ends each day of training with a few bruises, and has injured his hand several times. Once he even had to see a doctor for a head concussion. But with occasional rehabilitation treatment, he keeps going. He won’t give up easily.

Voice of Chen Yu-chen
Boxer
I don’t think I have any special feelings about getting onto the national team. But I think what’s more meaningful for me is maybe being able to help Keelung.

Chen will travel to Kazakhstan to compete in his first international engagement in April. He hopes to win glory for Keelung as well as Taiwan, through the simple method of just his fists.

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