Page 9 - 香港智障人士體育協會（2017-2018年報）

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1 Decade: The Birth of a Dream
In 1978, I returned to Hong Kong from London as a young accountant and met Dr Dicken Yung. This fortuitous
relationship has provided me with a front row seat to witness first-hand the newly established Hong Kong
Sports Association for Persons with Intellectual Disability (formerly named Hong Kong Sports Association for the
Mentally Handicapped) and a dream in the making by Dr Yung and his like-minded friends. It was inevitably small
scale at first with neither any staff nor a permanent place of operation. However, tangible support was already
forthcoming from Government, sponsors and volunteers who helped to develop, promote, organise trainings and
competitions for persons with intellectual disability. A dream was thus born where our athletes might one day
succeed in the world stage of sports.

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2 Decade: Towards Multiplicity
After the turn of its first decade, I was honoured to become part of this highly dedicated team in the present
role. With a more stable funding source provided by the Social Welfare Department, we began to diversify into
different types of sports. We also moved from Upper Pak Tin Estate to Lek Yuen Estate and added eight salaried
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staff along the way. We hosted “The 1 INAS-FID Asian & South Pacific Table Tennis Championships” with just
six competing athletes but had achieved 3 Gold, 2 Silver and 1 Bronze medals. The successful feat at home
ground had instantly aroused wide public attention.
3 Decade: Elevated Elite and Quality Training
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The taste of early success began to boost public confidence. The Hong Kong Paralympians Fund of the Hong
Kong Government began to grant living allowances to around 30 of our athletes. This government gesture
reassured parents of potential athletes to allow their children to focus on more full-time training. With the help of
systematic elite training methodology, better competition results became evident especially in athletics, swimming
and table tennis events of INAS-FID competitions. Right there in my presence at the “2000 Paralympic Games”
held in Sydney, records began to be broken with the first Gold in Table Tennis and first Silver in Long Jump!

4 Decade: Time to Bloom
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Almost before we know it, we are now already a full-fledged specialist association in 14 highly trained sports,
50,000 headcounts of training courses and 24 staff. Our swimmers managed to set new world records and our
table-tennis players have been included in the ITTF Para Table Tennis world ranking. In the UK 2012 Paralympic
Games, we bagged 1 gold, 1 silver and 2 bronze medals from London. In the Brazil 2016 Paralympic Games,
we further gained 1 gold, 1 bronze medals from Rio de Janeiro. These world class successes have earned our
athletes more than a respectful place in the community, they also attracted improved funding support from the
Hong Kong Government and generous sponsors.

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As we celebrate the 40 anniversary of HKSAPID, I believe that we can justifiably feel proud of what we have
achieved together. However, this should never allow us to feel contented and to neglect the quest for new
insights. Let us look forward to the next forty years with hope and anticipation and to take our athletes to new
heights where only dreamers would dare.

Dr. Eric Li

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