Hong Kong was once the host too? A Brief History of the Asian Youth Para Games

After the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games and the National Paralympic Games, the Hong Kong Paralympic delegation will participate in different overseas events, and will compete in another Asian-level event in December this year – the Asian Youth Paralympic Games.

Hello everyone, my name is Sam.

In 2003, Hong Kong hosted the first Far East and South Pacific Youth Disabled Games, which was also the predecessor of the Asian Youth Disabled Games. It attracted a total of 584 disabled athletes aged 14-23 from more than 15 countries and regions. The swimming events involved also won medals, but at that time the ban on the mentally handicapped competition was still not lifted due to the "Spanish Incident", so we can only list it as a demonstration event in this competition.

In 2006, the Far East and South Pacific Disability Federation announced its merger with the Asian Paralympic Council and officially changed its name to the Asian Paralympic Committee. A total of 466 young athletes from 29 countries and regions participated in the Asian Youth Paralympic Games. My younger brother also went to Tokyo to enjoy some of the table tennis and swimming events in person.

The Hong Kong Paralympic delegation has participated in the three Asian Youth Paralympic Games since 2009 and won a total of 103 medals, which is an impressive achievement. In the past, many of the delegates were elites in the front line, like the 2016 Rio Paralympic Swimming. Gold medalist Deng Weile, table tennis bronze medalist Wu Meihui and swimmer Xu Jiajun who just completed the 2020 Tokyo Paralympic Games. In recent years, there have been many young athletes competing for the competition in Asian countries, which has greatly improved the competitiveness of the competition. This year's competition is just to examine the competitiveness of Hong Kong's youth athletes with disabilities.

The 2021 Asian Youth Paralympic Games will be held in Manama, Bahrain from December 2 to 6. The Hong Kong Paralympic Team will send a total of 23 athletes to compete in boccia, swimming and table tennis, including 7 athletes. Will compete in the mentally handicapped level events of swimming and table tennis.

Swimming: Chen Ruilin, Zhang Keying, Xie Linen, Zhang Junnuo Table tennis: Liang Zhongren, Yuan Jingcheng, Wen Weile

List of Hong Kong delegations: https://hksapd.org/home/documents/2021/HKDelegationList_v4_AYPG.pdf

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Source: Wikipedia, Hong Kong Paralympic Committee and Sports Association for the Disabled, Hong Kong Sports Association for the Intellectually Disabled