Crowd chants "Go China!", Taiwan athlete feels at home

By John Ruwitch

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's leaders have repeated the mantra, ad nauseam, that the Olympic Games should not be politicized, but its badminton fans had other plans on Saturday.

When Taiwan player Hsieh Yu-hsing took to the court, the Beijing crowd treated him as one of their own.

At one point during Hsieh's match against Iran's Kaveh Mehrabi someone in the crowd tried several times to start the chant "Go Team Taipei!", but the other spectators were not having it.

Moments later, a spectator on another side of the gymnasium started shouting "Go Team China!" and it caught on, and was repeated throughout the match.

"It felt like I was back on my home court, like I was competing in Taiwan," Hsieh said. "The crowd was really into it."

Beijing has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek fled there in 1949 after losing the civil war against Mao Zedong and his Communist Party.

But wouldn't they be chanting something slightly different in Taiwan?

"Yes, yes," Hsieh said. "But I wasn't really thinking about it, I was just trying to be serious and play each game well."

(Editing by Alex Richardson)

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