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Twins' high hopes for the 2012 Games

Many of us may have spent time bobbing gently up and down, waving our arms around and pulling faces to amuse our friends.

But what twins Teresa Lit and Kot Lit do on a trampoline is something else entirely.

The sport is a genuine Olympic event and the 15-year-olds have set their sights on becoming heroes at the 2012 Games.

On Wednesday at East Point City they had the chance to take part in a demonstration with Canadian Olympic bronze medallist Mathieu Turgeon and Sean Kennedy of the United States. Afterwards Kot said he was thrilled to see world class trampolinists perform. 'I could feel the power and notice all the small details of their moves.'

Kot and his sister Teresa started trampoline five years ago. At that time, they were high divers. 'Our health was poor when we were small, so our parents sent us swimming. At the same time, we saw some high divers in TV programmes. They were cool and we started learning diving,' Teresa said.

'We couldn't always train in the water. Sometimes we had to practise the flips and somersaults on land using the trampoline,' Kot added.

'We found the trampoline very interesting. Our diving coach advised us to do both sports at the same time.'

The siblings did very well, winning a number of inter-school events. But eventually the pressures of school work became too much.

'Although we love diving, it was very time consuming. We had to spend more time studying, so we had to make a choice,' said Teresa.

'Also, we knew if we devoted all our time to one sport we could reach a higher level in that sport,' she said.

The pair said it was a tough decision to make.

'I still miss diving,' said Kot.

Coach Christopher Wong said the twins' high diving experience stood them in great stead on the trampoline.

Although they performed a little better than others, they were still young and inexperience.

Sometimes they made big mistakes.

In March, Kot took part in the inter-schools competition. He was doing very well and thought he would be taking home a medal.

However, in the second round he lost his focus and fell off the net. The big mistake cost him his medal.

'I was very sad and disappointed for weeks,' Kot said. But with the support of his family and coaches he returned to training.

Kot learned from his mistake and in June he beat a member of the Hong Kong team and took a gold medal.

The twins will be in Form Four next year. Both say that their studies will always come first. 'We encourage each other,' said Teresa.

Yet, the Olympics is every athlete's dream.

'We hope to take part in Olympics in the future,' Teresa said, adding that the pair are not afraid of hard work.

As for next month's Olympics in Beijing, the twins believe the Chinese team will do well, and they are both quick to name Huang Shanshan as their role model and say they think she will take gold.

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