Paralympic torch lands on Shanghai
1/9/2008 17:35
The Paralympic torch was relayed today in Shanghai, the third stop of the
flame's "modern China" route.
The relay started at 9:30 a.m. at the Shanghai
Foreign Trade University as Zhao Jihong, a prolific Paralympic athlete, launched
the 3km relay of 60 torchbearers.
Zhao, who doesn't have eyesight, had won
four golds, three silvers and one bronze in three Paralympics. She set a world
record of women's triple jump for the blind B in the seventh edition of
Paralympics.
Xu Lijia, a Beijing Olympic bronze medallist in sailing, ran in
the sixth place.
Xu won a bronze at Laser Radial, a class at which Europeans
usually excel.
"I have my best two days this year. Last month, I won a medal
in the Beijing Olympics and now I'm running as a torchbearer of Paralympics,"
said Xu.
"My two dreams come true today. One is being part of the Olympics
and the other is being part of the Paralympics," added Xu.
Chinese swimmer
Pang Jiaying lit the cauldron at 10:40 a.m. as the last torchbearer.
Pang,
23, notched up three Olympic medals, one silver and two bronzes, in the Olympics
last month.
"It's a great honor for me to get the opportunity to carry the
torch and light the cauldron," said Pang, who won four gold medals at the Doha
Asian Games 2006.
Huang Wentao, another Paralympic athlete who doesn't have
eyesight, passed the torch in the 56th place. Huang was the Paralympic triple
jump champion in 1992 and he repeated the feat at the Sydney Paralympics.
"We
just held a successful Olympics. Now our first Paralympics is coming. We the
disabled persons expect the Paralympics to be a great success," said
Huang.
Twelve out of the 60 bearers were disabled persons in the
relay.
The next destination for the "modern China" route is Qiangdao, a
coastal city in Shandong province.
The Beijing Paralympic torch relay will
cover 13,181 kilometers over nine days, passing 11 cities.
The Paralympic
torch relay was carried out along two routes, namely the route of "modern China"
and the route of "ancient China". "Modern" route covers Shenzhen, Wuhan,
Shanghai, Qingdao, Dalian and Beijing, while the "ancient" has Xi'an, Hohhot,
Changsha, Nanjing and Luoyan.
Xinhua
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