Cambodian runner leaves for Beijing Paralympics
1/9/2008 17:37
Kim Vanna, 40-year-old runner who lost his right leg below the knee in a
landmine explosion in 1989, left today for Beijing on deputy of Cambodia for the
Paralympic Games from Sept. 6 to 17.
"I will compete in the 100- and
200-meter races at the game," Kim Vanna told Xinhua.
"I feel so great that I
will join the Paralympic Games in Beijing because it is the first time for me to
join a world class event like this," he said.
"I am a disabled person but my
mind is not disabled. In the future I want to become a coach of disabled
runners," Kim Vanna added.
Kim Vanna was selected by the committee on the
basis of the silver medal that he had won at the ASEAN Para Games in Thailand
earlier this year, said Yi Veasna, secretary general of the National Paralympic
Committee of Cambodia.
"He is our national athlete selection for 2008. He has
the most recent medal from the ASEAN Games," he said, adding that the government
had recently awarded him US$4,000 for his silver medal.
Kim Vanna has so far
won 18 medals at international competitions, three golds, 10 silvers and five
bronzes, and the Beijing trip will be the first Paralympics.
Xinhua
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