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UPDATED: September-5-2008  
Third National Games for Disabled
 

March 19 was his most glorious day for Quan Yongchang, a 33-year-old man crippled in his left leg by infantile paralysis at the age of three. At the Third National Games for the Disabled, he surpassed the world record twice in the 52-kilogram weight lifting event. Quan, the master of a small grocery, can only walk with difficulty. After unremitting training, his efforts were rewarded by success. He became a hero in the people's eyes.

The Third National Games for the Disabled which lasted for six days saw great achievements. The results included the breaking of 28 world records 44 times by 22 athletes and another 136 competitors bettered 103 national records on 238 occasions. More than 1,100 crippled athletes who came from 30 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions, as well as Hong Kong and Macao, competed in track and field, swimming, table tennis, shooting, weight lifting and wheelchair basketball events.

Deng Pufang, the chairman of the Chinese Association for the Disabled and the organizing committee of the games, said, "The handicapped arc entering sports grounds. This shows that they are breaking through their isolation to seek understanding. They are coming out of their narrow circle to the open society. They are casting off their solitude and beginning to seek contact with others. Physical exercise builds up their strength. Moreover, it heightens their confidence and overcomes their psychological barriers. They return to the society and become creators of both material and ethical culture."

In the Tianhe Stadium of Guangzhou, there was perfect empathy between disabled athletes and spectators. Here there were no hisses and booes, but only applause and cheers. The indomitable will and consummate skill of the crippled athletes commanded admiration. Shen Jiliang, a disabled athlete from Beijing with no hands, grasped the ping-pong racket with his arms. He had evolved his own special fierce and strong style of serving both spinning and non-spinning balls. Chen Silu from Guangdong was handicapped in the legs. However his service of looping shots was so tricky that people could not believe that he really was disabled. A total of 800,000 people watched the competitions in Tianhe Stadium. They not only enjoyed the games, but wanted to discover a kind of pure spirit. A popular song rang out in the gymnasium, "If every one devotes some love, the world will be full of happiness and peace."

China has 51 million handicapped people. Over the past decade, they have achieved significant results in games for the disabled. Since 1984,Chinese disabled athletes have won 200 gold medals in major world competitions. This has all been due to the social support and care for the handicapped. Their economic position, employment and recreational lives have been obviously improved along with the Law on the Protection of the Disabled and perfection of other related legislature and departments. But some difficulties still exist in developing services for the disabled, such as the imbalance between economic development and their increasing numbers caused by natural disasters, accidents, disease, environmental pollution and wars. People lack knowledge and understanding about disabled people and proper care for them. Some areas even pay little attention to providing such facilities. One of the aims of holding this games for the disabled was to make more citizens aware of services for the disabled, to strengthen the understanding between the handicapped and the handicap free and to further develop care for the disabled. From this point of view, the latest games achieved more glorious achievements than expected.

China is applying to the executive board of the Far-East.and South Pacific Games Federation for the Disabled to host the 2000 Olympic Games for the Disabled. Besides this, the Sixth Far-East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled will be held in Beijing in 1994. A building which accommodates more than 1,000 athletes will be constructed in Beijing and be used as China's first sports centre for the disabled after the games.

(Beijing Review p.32 No.17, 1992)


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