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at 0:00 beijing time on september 6, in the paris paralympic hard court boccia mixed team - bc1/bc2 final, chongqing athlete yan zhiqiang and his teammates teamed up to play against the indonesian player and eventually won the gold medal with a score of 7:6.

yan zhiqiang not only won his first gold medal in the paralympic games, but also helped the chinese team win its first gold medal in the paralympic hard court bowling team event. so far, chongqing athletes have won four gold medals in the paris paralympic games.

as a veteran, yan zhiqiang has participated in four paralympic games, namely beijing, london, rio and tokyo, and won three silver medals and one bronze medal. yan zhiqiang's wife kuang lixia told reporters that during this trip to paris, yan zhiqiang was determined to win the gold medal!

the medals won by chongqing hard-court bowler yan zhiqiang are all over the table. photo by hualong.com reporter li yiming

he is a soldier fighting for his country.

he is also the captain of the national team.

yan zhiqiang became involved in hard court bowling in 2004.

boccia is a sport suitable for people with severe spasticity, cerebral palsy or severe physical disabilities. compared with popular sports such as track and field and basketball, boccia is undoubtedly a "cold" sport. it was not promoted nationwide until 2004.

that year, the chongqing beibei district disabled persons’ federation announced the recruitment of disabled people to participate in the hard court bowling project, and also went to the beiwenquan street near yan zhiqiang’s hometown to promote the project. at the age of 17, yan zhiqiang joined the team, officially opening his 20-year hard court bowling career.

although boccia is a sitting sport, it tests the comprehensive abilities of athletes. it requires a high level of ball feel, control, overall mental control, and tactical analysis and application, and requires a lot of training to improve.

when he first joined the training team, yan zhiqiang had to stay in the training ground for more than 8 hours at most. it is difficult for ordinary people to persist, and it is even more difficult for a person with a physical disability.

yan zhiqiang practiced repeatedly every day, and gradually stood out with his precise throwing and clever thinking tactics.

in 2006 and 2007, yan zhiqiang won two gold medals in the individual and team events of hard court boccia at the national boccia championships and the 7th national games for persons with disabilities respectively; at the 2010 boccia world championships in portugal, yan zhiqiang broke the record of china's hard court boccia never winning gold medals in international competitions and won the bc2 individual championship; at the 2012 london paralympic games, he won both the team and individual silver medals, once again creating the best result in the history of chinese hard court boccia.

in 2024, yan zhiqiang, captain of the national team, and his teammates stepped onto the highest podium of the paris paralympic games, helping the chinese team win the first gold medal in history in the paralympic hard court bowling team competition.

kuang lixia talks about the origin of the yan zhiqiang medal. photo by hualong.com reporter li yiming

he is his wife's husband

he is also the father of two children.

"good shot, this is a really beautiful shot!" at 11 a.m. on september 6, when the reporter walked into yan zhiqiang's home, kuang lixia was watching her husband's game again. she stared at the screen intently, with pride and emotion flashing in her eyes, as if she could fight side by side with yan zhiqiang through the screen.

although the competition has ended, kuang lixia still seems to have not recovered from the excitement and shock.

"it still feels incredible that he finally realized his dream and made history for our chinese team." kuang lixia said that her husband's 20 years of hard training paid off at this moment.

how hard is yan zhiqiang's daily training? kuang lixia answered this question with the numbers "7", "9" and "2".

"when there are international competitions, he spends most of his time playing games or training in other places. he has only come back twice this year, and each time he can only stay for a week." kuang lixia said that even during his time in chongqing, yan zhiqiang never relaxed his requirements for himself. he started training at 7 am every day and finished at 9 pm.

yan zhiqiang celebrates on the field. image source: visual china

although yan zhiqiang often plays games outside, he always cares about his family. yan zhiqiang and kuang lixia have a son and a daughter. yan zhiqiang basically makes video calls to his family every day to chat with himself and his children and ask them to study hard.

"at most, i would make four or five calls a day." kuang lixia told reporters that the two children have a very good relationship with their father. during the training period in chongqing, they especially liked to go to the stadium to watch their father train.

in kuang lixia's view, yan zhiqiang's firm will and spirit of hard work in life have become a role model in the hearts of children.

hualong.com reporter wang xurui/text