Diving into Taipei's summer university games from a train

[August 01, 2017]  TAIPEI (Reuters) - Commuters in Taiwan on Tuesday pretended to hit a ball with a bat, swim and run on a Taipei subway train as part of a campaign to promote the capital's Summer Universiade games this month.

The floors of the sports-themed train were covered to resemble a swimming pool, soccer field, basketball court, baseball diamond and track field.

The 3D ripple effect of the swimming pool floor caught the attention of many commuters, some of whom wore swimsuits and posed for photographs.

"It's uncanny," said Yuki Chou, who was costumed as a mermaid. "You feel like you're actually there. So, I really feel like jumping in for a swim."

Staged in summer and winter phases once every two years, the Universiade draws student athletes from universities around the world to compete.

The train campaign takes as its theme "Taipei in Motion", named for a short film released in May that showcased sports interspersed with shots of urban transport in Taipei.

The 29th Summer Universiade kicks off on August 19 and runs to August 30, featuring 22 sports, from archery to wushu.

(Reporting by Fabian Hamacher Writing by Karishma Singh; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)

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