Hong Kong ‘blade runner’ stands tall again after rediscovering the sport he loves

Hong Kong’s own “blade runner” Chris Harris is happy that he took the advice of a friend who three years ago urged him to take up rugby again. He followed her counsel and joined Leighton Asia HKCC where he now turns out for Freeze in the Third Division.

“It was the best decision I made since coming to Hong Kong,” says Harris, who lost his left leg in an accident when he was three-years-old.

A lock forward, the Englishman adds cheekily: “Well, probably not for my liver, but certainly it has improved my well-being and social life in Hong Kong.”

Harris, who arrived in town five years ago, stayed away from a sport he used to play in school in England because he didn’t know what sort of reception a one-legged player would get. He needn’t have worried. HKCC have welcomed him with open arms in true rugby spirit, proving that the game is really for all shapes and sizes, for able-bodied as well as the disabled.

“I played rugby in school in England until I was 11, when I gave up sports because I found my grades were suffering. But I have always loved it and a couple of years after moving to Hong Kong, a friend, Anna, asked me why I didn’t come along for training one day. I’m thankful I heeded her advice,” says Harris who as a ball-winner in the lineout is a crucial cog for HKCC Freeze.

As a toddler, Harris was playing outside his home in Borrowash, Derbyshire when he fell in front of a lawn-mover and, before anyone could react, he was left with a badly mangled leg.