After days of foggy weather in the capital city, the sun smiled on Friday's chilly morning when the flame for the Guangzhou 2010 Asian Para Games was ignited at a ceremony at the China Millennium Monument.
Asian Games swimming champion Zhou Jiawei and Uygur student Adilan Aierken lit the flame in a traditional sun-ray ceremony.
"I was so excited when I lit the flame and I couldn't stop my tears," said Aierken, who suffers from a disability in her right arm.
"The ceremony is a moving moment for me," she added.
The 20-year-old Aierken is a second-year student from Xinjiang Special Education Vocational School. According to her teacher Li Li, she was selected as the flame collector due to her outstanding performances at school.
"Today I'm representing all people with disabilities," Aierken said.
At about 10:23 am, Aierken and Zhou, who were led by 16 actresses dressed in white, stepped down the Millennium Monument to the second platform and used a concave mirror to focus the rays of the morning sun on a torch. It took them only 3.88 seconds to light the flame.
"It's a great honor for me to be selected as one of the flame collectors," said Guangzhou native Zhou, who won gold medals in the men's 50m and 100m butterfly swimming events at the Guangzhou Asian Games last month.
"Today is an important day for me. I will remember it forever," he said.
The two collectors gave the ignited torch to the governor of Guangdong province, Huang Huahua, who lit the flame pot with the torch. The fire in the pot then ignited a flame lantern, which will be used for the relay in coming days.
The torch relay will start on Saturday morning at Tian'anmen Square. Twenty torchbearers will join the first-day relay in Beijing and then the flame will return to Guangzhou for a seven-day relay there. The flame will arrive at the venue for the opening ceremony on Dec 12, the opening day of the games.
"The holding of the games for people with disabilities is a mark of civilized societies and offers a platform for those people to show their fighting spirit and the value of life," Zhang Haidi, president of China Disabled Persons' Federation, said at the ceremony.
"The Guangzhou Asian Para Games will be a grand gala for people with disabilities across Asian to cheer, share and win."
The Guangzhou games will be the first time the Asian Para Games have been held in the same city as the Asian Games. Previously, Asia's para games were known as the Far East and South Pacific Games for the Disabled. They started in 1975. The ninth games were held in Kuala Lumpur four years ago.
The eight-day Guangzhou Asian Para Games are expected to attract 3,000 athletes from more than 40 countries and regions in Asia. The slogan for the event, "We Cheer, We Share, We Win", reflects the event's spirit of sportsmanship and the unity of people with disabilities throughout Asia.
By Lei Lei
