Beijing Paralympic Games
It has been a whirlwind trip, right from getting the go ahead till now, and its still going on probably till the last day on the 17 Sep.
First, I had a hard time getting approval from my boss. It was with much persistence that I managed to get it my way, which has guaranteed my name to be in the book of blacklist as the defiant one who does not fall in line and cross the boundary.
It is a sponsored trip, due to my involvement with disabled sports, and there is no reason to stop me from going. Its a once in a lifetime chance, and I don't know if I can get to go for any more Paralympics.
So here I am, in Beijing for more than 1 week and only have time to blog now. Not that we have that much athletes to report on, we only have 3 in Beijing, the other 3 are competing in Qingdao and Hong Kong. Its me that has been trying to capture as many sports as possible.
Every sport that I go to offer such an eye opener and you can get pretty emotional just by watching the athletes competing and putting in every effort they can. Imagine playing football with your eyes closed, and using your hearing to know where the ball is, crashing into opponents every now and then. That takes courage and a whole lot of concentration. I am glad to be here, and make the most out of whatever time I have to cover every sport. That explains why I have not been to anywhere in Beijing except competition venues and my hotel. But even the competition venues in university campus is an interesting sight. The hostel in Beijing University of Technology has a common bathroom! I wallk pass a bulding called 浴室 and saw female students walking out with wet hair and toiletries. Its nice to walk in campus, but not for long before reach the Goalball venue.
Im surprised that the whole Paralympics is so well organised and the Press is very well taken care of. I think China is trying very hard to impress and the best way to spread the word is to treat the press well. You have student volunteers at every corner, always ready to speak to you in English, and even the security check at every venue is done by students. That helps in providing a soft image, but you still see the armed guards at access gates and army personnel or police doing sentry duty. They seem to appear at alot of corners, but it hard to spot them at night, because they are in dark uniform, and standing very still. I suspect the guys wearing the same t-shirt as students as soldiers. You can see them marching along the streets at night. But the point is, I am amazed at how much manpower and resources has been put in. To do this back home, we probably have to mobilise even the reservist personnel, and the auntie and ah peks in community centres. Even that may not be enough. The sheer size and numbers of China humbled me.
5-a-Side football between Spain and Brazil.
First, I had a hard time getting approval from my boss. It was with much persistence that I managed to get it my way, which has guaranteed my name to be in the book of blacklist as the defiant one who does not fall in line and cross the boundary.
It is a sponsored trip, due to my involvement with disabled sports, and there is no reason to stop me from going. Its a once in a lifetime chance, and I don't know if I can get to go for any more Paralympics.
So here I am, in Beijing for more than 1 week and only have time to blog now. Not that we have that much athletes to report on, we only have 3 in Beijing, the other 3 are competing in Qingdao and Hong Kong. Its me that has been trying to capture as many sports as possible.
Every sport that I go to offer such an eye opener and you can get pretty emotional just by watching the athletes competing and putting in every effort they can. Imagine playing football with your eyes closed, and using your hearing to know where the ball is, crashing into opponents every now and then. That takes courage and a whole lot of concentration. I am glad to be here, and make the most out of whatever time I have to cover every sport. That explains why I have not been to anywhere in Beijing except competition venues and my hotel. But even the competition venues in university campus is an interesting sight. The hostel in Beijing University of Technology has a common bathroom! I wallk pass a bulding called 浴室 and saw female students walking out with wet hair and toiletries. Its nice to walk in campus, but not for long before reach the Goalball venue.
Im surprised that the whole Paralympics is so well organised and the Press is very well taken care of. I think China is trying very hard to impress and the best way to spread the word is to treat the press well. You have student volunteers at every corner, always ready to speak to you in English, and even the security check at every venue is done by students. That helps in providing a soft image, but you still see the armed guards at access gates and army personnel or police doing sentry duty. They seem to appear at alot of corners, but it hard to spot them at night, because they are in dark uniform, and standing very still. I suspect the guys wearing the same t-shirt as students as soldiers. You can see them marching along the streets at night. But the point is, I am amazed at how much manpower and resources has been put in. To do this back home, we probably have to mobilise even the reservist personnel, and the auntie and ah peks in community centres. Even that may not be enough. The sheer size and numbers of China humbled me.
5-a-Side football between Spain and Brazil.
posted by Kwang Peng at 8:15 AM
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