Tokyo Paralympics: Hong Kong bronze winner Daniel Chan ‘relieved’ after delivering badminton medal
- The 36-year-old world number two ranked wheelchair badminton (WH2) player in the world says winning bronze feels like a weight lifted off his shoulders
- Chan says it’s too early to say if he is going to make a run for Paris 2024 but feels as if he’s ‘put his name in the history of Hong Kong’s sport field’
Hong Kong’s Daniel Chan Ho-yuen said the resounding emotion he has felt since winning bronze in wheelchair badminton at the Tokyo Paralympics is relief.
Chan downed South Korea’s Kyung Hoon-kim in straight sets on Sunday at Tokyo’s Yoyogi National Stadium, winning 24-22, 21-10 to give Hong Kong its fourth medal at the Paralympics. Chan said since arriving in Tokyo he was accompanied by a heavy weight on his shoulders.
“When you arrive, you feel like you are carrying so many of Hong Kong people’s hopes on your shoulders,” said the 36-year-old, who went into the Games ranked second in the WH2 category. “And especially with me given I had the highest world ranking in badminton and in all sports for (Hong Kong) athletes.”
Chan was in a car accident at the age of 22 in 2008, losing his leg and spending close to a year in hospital recovering from his injury. He said badminton saved his life and by the end of 2009 he was a member of the Hong Kong para-badminton team, and first represented Hong Kong in 2010 at the Asian Para Games.
He kicked off his quest for a medal at the Paralympics by downing France’s Thomas Jakobs last Thursday in straight sets, but then hit a hiccup the following day in losing to Japan’s Daiki Kajiwara. Chan then beat Great Britain’s Martin Rooke later that day, but on Saturday in the semi-final lost to South Korea’s Kim Jung-jun.
