How running helped Indian-Hong Kong student Aryan Sidhu overcome discrimination
- The 18-year-old is out to change the city’s perception of South Asians after being crowned Hong Kong’s No 1 1,500m youth
- ‘There are some bad people, and some good, but you can’t classify everyone as one,’ Sidhu says
Hong Kong’s top middle-distance youth runner Aryan Sidhu hopes his “ridiculous” times can combat prejudice or negative assumptions towards his South Asian ethnicity.
The 18-year-old, born in Hong Kong to Indian parents, capped another stellar 1,500 metre track season with an A.S. Watson Group Hong Kong Student Sports Award last week as he continues to shave time off his personal best. The Delia Memorial School (Broadway) student also eagerly awaits his HKDSE results as he plots his next move.
“Sport is a way to overcome discrimination in Hong Kong. It shows other people that not all [people of] ethnic minorities are the same. It’s really helped me a lot in meeting new people, making friends and making an image for myself and my school,” the Tuen Mun native said.
“The main assumptions are what you see on the news. You see South Asians doing this or that, then people think everyone is like that. [Running] is good for me because maybe I can help that – help people take this way of thinking away.
“There are some bad people, and some good, but you can’t classify everyone as one. I can finally change the way people think of South Asians or ethnic minorities. [My family] consider ourselves as Hong Kong citizens and I want to feel connected as one in Hong Kong.”