Singapore has sent 38 athletes with disabilities to participate in 11 sports in the upcoming 13th ASEAN Para Games, 13 of whom will make their debuts, including three senior athletes who will challenge new sports.
The 13th ASEAN Para Games will be held in Korat, Thailand from January 20 to 26. Singapore has sent 38 disabled athletes to participate in 11 sports, 13 of whom will make their debuts, including three senior athletes who will challenge new sports.
The three athletes who changed tracks are four-time Paralympic swimmer Ng Rui Si, four-time Paralympic sailing sailor Chen Weiqiang, and Hong Huixin, who has represented Singapore twice in blind goalball at the ASEAN Para Games. They will switch to shooting, boccia and judo respectively at the ASEAN Para Games. The latter is also the flag bearer of the Singapore delegation in this event.
Hong Huixin is the first disabled judo representative in my country’s history
Hong Huixin (29 years old), who suffers from congenital aniridia, made her first appearance at the ASEAN Paralympic Games in 2015, when the competition was hosted by Singapore. The tournament held in Kuala Lumpur two years later was unable to send a team due to insufficient numbers. Hong Huixin had to wait until 2022 to compete again in the blind goalball match of the ASEAN Para Games and bring back Singapore a historic silver medal in this sport.
Talking about switching sports, Hong Huixin said in an interview with Lianhe Zaobao at Changi Airport early Thursday morning (January 15): “After the 2022 competition, my team decided to retire. Some people chose to leave, some people were injured, and we did not have enough people. I decided to switch to judo because I like to compete directly with opponents.”
It must be mentioned that Hong Huixin is Singapore’s first judo representative at the ASEAN Para Games. She said: “I started to get into judo in 2018 and really like it. Although no one here participates in para-judo, the sport is actually very popular around the world.”
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From team sports to individual sports, Hong Huixin admitted that it was indeed difficult to adapt at first. “A blind goalball match lasts about 50 minutes, and judo may end in more than four minutes, so it took me a while to adapt, such as the kind of explosive power I need. Also, blind goalball is a team sport, while judo is an individual sport. I have to learn to rely more on myself.”
Hong Huixin revealed that she began to receive judo training in 2023. She participated in the competition for the first time in June this year, and won a bronze medal in one fell swoop. Therefore, she has set herself the goal of at least winning a medal in the upcoming ASEAN Para Games.
Former gold-medal yachtsman switched to bocce and found it boring at first
The 39-year-old Chen Weiqiang was the sailing gold medalist at the 2014 Asian Para Games and the 2015 ASEAN Para Games. He also participated in the Paralympic Games four times. However, since there was no more sailing competition after the 2016 Rio Paralympics, Chen Weiqiang was forced to switch events.
“The fire was still there in me and I wanted to continue to be competitive, so I decided to try a new sport that would allow me to develop my abilities,” and bocce fit the bill. “
He explained: “While I do sailing, I don’t know how to swim, and other wheelchair sports require a lot of upper body strength and flexibility, but with my condition, my options are quite limited. Boccia is a sport that is very suitable for someone like me who has cerebral palsy (Cerebral Palsy).”
But after all, he is used to riding the wind and waves. Chen Weiqiang admitted that he found the speed of bocce ball too slow and boring at first. However, slow speed does not mean easy. Chen Weiqiang believes that boccia is still quite challenging. He pointed out, “We are not machines. We cannot throw the ball 1,000 times and be accurate 1,000 times. We can only seize every throwing opportunity as much as possible, and then act according to the situation to see what tactics should be used next. I think this should be the most challenging part.”
Having said that, Chen Weiqiang, who is extremely athletic, got started quickly. In just over three years, he won the World Boccia Challenge held in Canberra, Australia last year.
Chen Weiqiang admitted that winning the championship greatly increased his confidence, but he also emphasized: “I will not stop here, because every game is a new environment and a new challenge.”
Former swimming world champion turns to shooting
As for my country’s retired swimming star Wu Ruisi, she will make her first appearance at the ASEAN Paralympic Games as a shooter after nine years.
The 38-year-old Wu Ruisi last participated in the ASEAN Paralympic Games in 2017, but she is still our country’s athlete with the most medals in this event. Despite this, Wu Ruisi is quite excited about not having a major competition for a long time and about to accept a new challenge.
“It’s fun for me because I feel like a new guy and I can bring some of my past experience to a new sport. People who have generally known me through swimming may now have to get used to seeing me competing in another sport, and I think it will be pretty fun for them as well.”
Wu Ruisi is my country’s first world swimming champion. After ending her more than 20-year swimming career in 2019, she started working as a nine-to-five office worker. However, she became interested in shooting in 2024 and participated in her first overseas shooting competition in the middle of last year.
In an exclusive interview with this newspaper last year, Wu Ruisi said that her participation was originally only for classification (every disability sport will divide athletes into different levels according to the type and degree of disability so that they can compete under the same conditions). Unexpectedly, she set a personal best in the women’s 10-meter air pistol SH1 level event and won a ticket to the ASEAN Paralympic Games.
This will be Wu Ruisi’s 10th time participating in the ASEAN Paralympic Games, but after all, she is challenging a brand new sport. She only hopes to perform at her best level and aims to set another personal best.
Another Chinese disabled swimming star, Ye Pinxiu, did not go with the team because her event was not included in the current ASEAN Para Games.
Acting Minister of Culture, Community and Youth Leung Chun-wai also appeared at the airport this morning to see off our disabled athletes and will fly to Nakhon Ratchasima next week to cheer them on.
