The young lady, Lai Thi Ngoc Anh, was born in the Thi Cau district, Bac Ninh province during the autumn of 1992.
When Ngoc Anh was 10 years of age, she unfortunately fell to the ground from a great height while playing at her grandmother’s house and this resulted in her left lower limb being amputated. Soon after this incident, Ngoc Anh was recommended to the Vietcot centre for her first plastic prosthetic leg. Despite the restoration of her mobility given by her prosthesis, she came across much hardship due to the loss of her limb. Whilst still in school, she was often teased because of her prosthetic leg. Even so, she did not let the teasing affect her but instead became more confident in herself.
In 2012, Ngoc Anh started playing sports with other people with disabilities. Very soon after training, she participated in her first national sports competition and won 2 gold medals in the 100m and 400m relay-races. In 2013 Ngoc Anh went on to win another 2 silver medals in the 100m and 400m running. These achievements helped her to be selected into the National Team and taken part in the 7th ASEAN Para Games in Myanmar in 2014. For her first international competition, the young athlete won a silver medal in long jump for the Vietnamese team. Throughout the process of training and competing, Ngoc Anh got serious pain because of the hard plastic prosthetic rubbing on her stump. That has made Ngoc Anh sometimes reluctant to put it on, and, along with the strength training in extreme weather conditions, she often thought about giving up sport. Thanks to the encouragement from her family and her courage, Ngoc Anh finally pursued her career in sports.
In 2015, the ICRC-Special Fund for the Disabled (ICRC-SFD) decided to involve in sports for people with disabilities in the frame of its Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation project. Visiting the National sport centre in Hanoi the SFD team was impressed by Ngoc Anh's capabilities when she was training despite the limited function of her plastic prosthesis. Ngoc Anh was therefore selected by the ICRC-SFD with two other athletes from the Hanoi centre to receive orthopaedic devices specifically designed for sports. The ICRC-SFD cooperated with the Vietcot centre and the Otto Bock company in South East Asia to produce the advanced prosthesis made from ultra light and durable carbon material for Ngoc Anh. She immediately noticed a significant difference between the new and the old prostheses when training, in the way that it fits snuggly with the stump and has a high spring effect. Ngoc Anh fitting with this new prosthesis happened just before she went to compete at the 8th annual ASEAN Paralympic games in Singapore in December of 2015.
The result was that Ngoc Anh achieved 3 medals in all 3 of the discipline she participated in, which were a gold medal in the long jump, a silver and a bronze medals in the 100m and 200m running respectively. Ngoc Anh is very happy with her new sports prosthetic and her achievements in the games. The young athlete has now plans to train for bigger tournaments to affirm her capabilities and to repay everyone's support and encouragement.
Resoure: ICRC - SFD
0 comments
More comments