A Hong Kong athlete participates in the Special Olympics Table Tennis competition at the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities & 9th National Special Olympic Games of the People's Republic of China, in Hong Kong on Dec 9, 2025. (ANDY CHONG / CHINA DAILY)
The main events of the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 9th National Special Olympic Games kicked off on Tuesday, with Hong Kong's para swimmers and paddler duo delivering the city's first two gold medals.
On Tuesday, Hong Kong's star para-athletes also logged four silver and three bronze medals across swimming, table tennis, fencing, and athletics — a strong opening tally as the city's boccia players, too, began climbing the rankings.
The two combined sports meetings — running from Monday until Dec 15 — are jointly hosted by the Hong Kong and Macao special administrative regions, alongside Guangdong province, following the pioneering co-hosting model started by last month's 15th National Games.
Over the eight days, 7,824 athletes representing 34 delegations throughout the country will pursue glory in 1,876 events across 46 sports, which include 131 events in 11 mass-participation sports, and 599 events across nine Special Olympics disciplines. Hong Kong sent an athlete delegation of 280 to compete in 18 disciplines in the para games and seven Special Olympics disciplines.
Track and field events of the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 9th National Special Olympics Games kick off at the Guangdong Olympic Sports Center in Guangzhou on Dec 9, 2025. (PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)
The city is set to stage boccia, wheelchair fencing, para table tennis (TT11), and the table tennis events of the Special Olympics, while Macao has been entrusted with hosting badminton competitions for both games.
Swimmer Lau Chiu-yee smashed the national record with a time of two minutes and 13.5 seconds, claiming the city's first gold in the S14-class women's 100-meter individual freestyle on Tuesday morning in Shenzhen. She was followed by teammate Chan Yui-lam, who clocked a time of two minutes and 13.6 seconds.
Hong Kong's Ng Cheuk-yan shared a bronze medal with a peer from Guangdong in the SM7-class women's 200m individual medley, both touching the wall in three minutes and 12.36 seconds to finish joint third.
Also on Tuesday, para table tennis duo Wong Hon-lam and Winnie Pang Wing-ka clinched gold medal in the XD14-class mixed doubles event.
The triumph — sealed with a 3-2 match win against a Jiangsu pairing — marks their debut at the para National Games but was a widely anticipated success after the pair pocketed a gold medal at the ITTF Asian Para Championships 2025 in October.
An athlete competes during the 12th National Games for Persons with Disabilities and the 9th National Special Olympics Games kick off at the Guangdong Olympic Sports Center in Guangzhou on Dec 9, 2025. (PARKER ZHENG / CHINA DAILY)
Meanwhile, Pang joined Lo Ka-hei in the TT6-class women's doubles final, earning a silver medal after losing 3-0 to a pair from Chongqing.
In the TT5-class men's doubles final, Choi Siu-hung and Cheng Chung secured a bronze-medal podium finish.
The table tennis events are split between those of the para National Games for Persons with Disabilities held in Guangdong — covering physical, intellectual, hearing, and visual impairments — and the parallel Special Olympics for people with intellectual disabilities, hosted in Hong Kong.
Hong Kong's Ma On Shan Sports Centre saw the city's wheelchair fencer, Paris 2024 Paralympian Tong Nga-ting, obtain a bronze in the women's foil b-grade individual event with a win over an opponent from Shanghai.
On the same day, across the border in Guangzhou, Hong Kong's veteran athlete, Yam Kwok-fan — the previous games' T36 200m bronze medalist — contested the women's T36 100m final, adding a silver medal to her collection with a time of 15.54 seconds.
In the men's T20 long jump final, Nikki Tang, too, achieved silver on his best attempt with a distance of 6.09 meters.
Separately, returning as medal heavyweights from the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games, Hong Kong's boccia teams, and swimmer Wong Hon-yin, a bronze medalist at the Hangzhou Asian Para Games, also kicked off their bids in various individual classes on Tuesday.
