In a special afternoon match at the Hangzhou Tangqi Goalball Training Base, Hu Mingyao won his first Asian Para Athletics gold medal.

Much to the crowd's delight, the athlete then decided to propose to his longtime girlfriend, who was cheering him on from the stands.

Goalball is an indoor team sport developed for blind or visually impaired players in which a 1.25-kg rubber ball containing bells that make a sound when in motion is thrown at a goal at the opposing team's end of the court.

After China defeated Japan 9-3 in the men's goalball final on October 27, Hu, a visually impaired player, removed his blackout goggles, which are worn during the game to level the playing field and allow players with different levels of vision to compete together, ran a hand through his snow-white hair and accepted a bouquet of flowers from his teammate.

With Mariah Carey's 1993 hit Hero playing in the background, he made his way through the crowd and approached his girlfriend Qiqi (nickname), who was sitting in the bleachers.

He popped the question and, of course, she said yes. For the happy couple, the Hangzhou 2022 Asian Para Games slogan Hearts Meet, Dreams Shine could not be more apt.

"I'm getting married!" Hu shouted during a post-game interview.

Their story is just one of many memorable moments at the Fourth Asian Para Games in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province in east China.

This amalgam of thrilling athletic action, excellent arrangements and touching personal stories from athletes culminated in a grand closing ceremony on October 28, marking the end of six days of competition in which 3,020 athletes competed in 502 medal events.

Medals and more

Hu, born in 1995, hails from Wenzhou, Zhejiang. He has albinism, which results in snow-white skin and hair, a lack of eye pigmentation and, in Hu's case, visual impairment. In 2009, Hu joined the Zhejiang provincial goalball team and, at the age of 15, participated in the 2010 Asian Youth Para Games in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong Province in south China.

According to Hu, his involvement in goalball over the past years has greatly boosted his self-confidence.

In the men's goalball final at the Tokyo Summer Paralympics on September 3, 2021, Team China lost 2-7 to Brazil and took the silver medal. But throughout the competition, Hu's striking resemblance to the character Satoru Gojo from the popular Japanese manga series Jujutsu Kaisen, with his distinctive white hair and black eye mask, had already made him a social media sensation.

That same year, Qiqi happened to come across videos of Hu's games. She ended up editing videos for the goalball team and that is how their relationship began and blossomed. She traveled to Hangzhou to be with Hu during the Asian Para Games.

"He is a warrior out there," Qiqi said when commenting on the sport. "To withstand such a fast and heavy ball with his body has already led to inevitable injuries. I have come to realize that he is braver than I ever could've imagined."

Younger faces

This fourth edition of the Asian Para Games also saw more young faces.

Yang Yixiao, 13, the youngest athlete in the Chinese delegation, had his first international competition on the evening of October 23. Yang, who mentioned that he might be one of the few totally blind athletes, competed in the men's individual standard VI-B1 event of chess.

This competition uses special chess pieces and boards, where the latter have contrasting squares of different heights and each chess piece has a pin to insert into the board.

"Playing chess brings out different emotions in me, depending on whether I'm feeling good or not. But regardless of my mood, the sport helps me relax," Yang said.

"Chess provides an outlet for the blind and visually impaired community. They find that by playing chess, they can calm down, enjoy the world and have a conversation with the chess pieces," Liu Yi, a chess technical officer at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, told Beijing Review.

Liu said he faced great work pressure during the Games. He needs to record every move made in every match and work through the night to compile the results. "It is indeed tiring because I have to stand all day. Although there are chairs around, I usually don't sit down because when the game gets intense, and the players are making quick moves, I don't even have time to take a break," he explained.

Both Yang's team and the boy himself ended the Hangzhou Games without winning a medal. "This was the first time for the Chinese chess players to participate in the Asian Para Games. We only formed the team in May, with limited training time and little to no information about our opponents," Liu said.

"I didn't know how good my opponents would be. I had only heard that the Indonesian and Indian players were quite strong, and then I met one (Indonesian player Indra Yoga in the second round)," Yang said. "But it seems that he was just slightly better than me, and the gap wasn't as big as I'd imagined."

Host of the most

Team China put on a fantastic performance to top the medals table. They grabbed 521 medals, including 214 gold ones. The Chinese athletes also broke 12 world and 36 Asian records.

"I want to thank everyone for making these Games superb. Athletes, volunteers, local organizers and the media, thank you all very much. Hangzhou has raised the bar for every single major event organizer in the world," Tarek Souei, CEO of the Asian Paralympic Committee, said at a media conference ahead of the athletic event's closing ceremony.

Souei went on to say that he was impressed by the high level of competition at the event, but what amazed him even more was the improvement in the overall quality of life for people with disabilities in China thanks to the influence of para sports.

The competition venues are full of accessible features, including elevators with Braille buttons, voice-activated restrooms, and designated rest areas for guide dogs.

"From the entrances to the functional areas of the venues, we have created a comprehensive and safe barrier-free environment," said Chen Weiqiang, chief spokesperson for the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, at the media conference.

"In order to provide the best possible environment for the athletes, we have been working for the past three years to upgrade and build barrier-free facilities throughout the host city, including the airport, shopping malls and the Games Village. With the Fourth Asian Para Games, the accessible environment in Hangzhou has reached a new level," Chen continued.

In recent years, Hangzhou has made great efforts to create a barrier-free environment.

The city has 140,000 barrier-free facilities in hotel rooms, metro stations and some key public service areas. Moreover, 15,000 financially deprived families in the city, with members who are disabled, have received assistance in installing barrier-free facilities.

"The city has fulfilled its commitment to hosting an Asian Games and an Asia Para Games that are equally brilliant," Liu concluded.

(Print Edition Title: Hearts Meet, Dreams Shine)

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

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