Yang Hongqiong of Team China celebrates after winning the gold medal in the para cross-country skiing women's sprint sitting at the 2022 Winter Paralympics at the National Biathlon Center in Zhangjiakou, north China's Hebei Province, March 9, 2022. /CFP
Team China's Yang Hongqiong clinched the country's 10th gold medal at the Beijing 2022 Winter Paralympics by winning the women's Para skiing short distance sitting in Zhangjiakou on Wednesday. It was her second gold at the 2022 Games, after her victory in the long-distance sitting event.
The 32-year-old from southwest China's Yunnan Province began skiing only in 2018. She had been a wheelchair basketball player.
"Skiing was too far away for me as a southerner. Since I was lucky enough to be chosen to become a skier, I decided to practice it without hesitation," Yang said.
Yang was excited to compete at Beijing 2022 after going through many ups and downs over the years.
"If I get a chance to stand on the stage of the Paralympics, how can I have any excuse to give up? When I was tired, I told myself to hold on for a while, and everything will pass," said the champion skier.