Source:
https://scmp.com/news/hong-kong/education-community/article/1970582/hong-kong-wheelchair-athlete-go-gold-again
Hong Kong/ Education

Hong Kong wheelchair athlete to go for gold again

Boccia champion Leung Yuk-wing heads to Rio Paralympics for another throw at glory in a sport that has changed his life and brought tears of joy

Leung Yuk-wing hopes to repeat his 2004 Paralympics performance in Rio. Photo: Edward Wong

Boccia gold medallist Leung Yuk-wing remembers the first time he went overseas for a competition. It was to Greece, for the Athens Paralympics in 2004.

“When we got to the Paralympic Village, I noticed people from all around the world settling in, going about their business – but everyone was like me, in a wheelchair. It was so funny,” he says.

When Leung was young, he was uncomfortable at the way people would look at him.

He was born with arthrogryposis, the condition that describes congenital joint contractures.

He grew up quiet, not liking to go out, and found life, which involved many hospital trips, frustrating and unfair.

That changed when he started playing boccia at school.

Boccia is similar to bowls, and the aim is to throw leather balls as close as possible to a white target ball, called the jack.

As he became more involved in the sport, he noticed how his friends just confidently wheeled about, and learned he didn’t need to care how others looked at him.

In Athens, Leung became a star, as he won double gold for Hong Kong. But afterwards, he got a little lost. “I’d set my sights on winning, but I failed to gain any gold in a decade. Honestly, I thought about giving up.”

His boccia partner, Vivian Lau Wai-yan, snapped him out of it. They first met in hospital when he was an adolescent, and when she showed up for boccia training one day, they reconnected and became good friends. “You haven’t reached your goal yet, how could you give up?” Oh, right, he thought.

Leung Yuk-wing trains for his latest boccia challenge at the Sports Institute in Sha Tin. Photo: Edward Wong
Leung Yuk-wing trains for his latest boccia challenge at the Sports Institute in Sha Tin. Photo: Edward Wong

So, with the encouragement of his coaches – and his girlfriend, whom he met at work but is now an assistant boccia coach – he made some changes to his training, as well as his attitude.

He finally climbed back to the top at the 2014 BISFed World Championships in Beijing.

The pressure was tremendous in the doubles final; the rival team were the same Brazilians who had beat them in the past two Paralympics. But with solid precision, strategies and mental power, the Hong Kong team did it.

“The moment I realised we’d won, I felt my tears roll. Finally, I thought.”

Being a career athlete in Hong Kong is not easy. Although he receives an elite sport scholarship from the Sports Institute, Leung still has to work, as an office assistant for the Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs Association.

Hong Kong Red Cross Princess Alexander School has nominated Leung for an Overcoming Personal Challenge Award in the Spirit of Hong Kong Awards held by the Post.

Right now, Leung’s focus is on training for September’s Rio Paralympics, where he hopes to repeat his 2004 performance.

Beyond that, the 31 year old aims to maintain sufficient fitness to compete in a couple more Paralympics, before moving on to coaching.

Hong Kong’s current boccia coaches are all able-bodied, and Leung hopes to share his personal experiences, believing they could make a difference to others.