Jung Seung-hwan gives hope for kids with disabilities
By Baek Byung-yeul
Korean sledge ice hockey player Jung Seung-hwan lost his right leg at the age of five after construction pipes collapsed on him.
Recalling his childhood, the 31-year-old said he spent days without any dreams or hopes.
"My half-hour commute to school always felt like hell to me," Jung told reporters at the athletes' village in PyeongChang March 6. "I had no self-confidence, and I was busy hiding from others."
However, his life changed when he was introduced to ice sledge hockey.
Ever since he began playing ice sledge hockey in 2004 while in college, he emerged as one of the world's best forwards in the sport.
Compared to other hockey players he is diminutive in size as he stands at 167 centimeters. But with his superior agility, Jung is one of the best forwards in his sport. Also known by the nickname "Messi on ice," Jung also has outstanding puck control.
Jung told reporters his ultimate goal is to become a guiding light for children with disabilities.
"The goal that I want to achieve more than winning a medal is to become a guiding light for children with disabilities who have lost their dreams and hopes.
"I believe many of them don't know there are sports for the disabled. I want to help many young disabled people to play sports through the PyeongChang Paralympics," he said.
Ice sledge hockey is one of the six sports featured in the PyeongChang Paralympics. It is designed to allow athletes whose leg or legs are amputated to play ice hockey. While ice hockey players use only one stick, the ice sledge hockey players use two sticks sitting on a double-blade sledge instead of wearing skates.
Korea currently is world No. 3 and as the nation's team won the bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships, Jung was Korea's leading scorer with six goals including the winning goal against Norway in the bronze medal match.
With Jung, Korea aims to win their first ice sledge hockey medal at the Paralympics. Paired with the United States, Czech Republic and Japan in Group B, Korea got off to a good start defeating Japan 4-1 in its first game in the preliminary round.
In the second game against Czech Republic, Korea won 3-2 in overtime. Though it fell to world No.2 U.S. 8-0, Tuesday, Korea secured a semifinal spot. In the semifinals against world No. 1 Canada on Thursday, Korea was defeated 7-0.
In Paralympics ice sledge hockey, eight teams compete in the preliminaries and the top two teams in Group A and B advance to the semifinals. Now Korea will vie for the bronze medal against the winner from another semifinal match between the U.S. and Italy on Thursday night.
Korea has never won a medal in Paralympic ice sledge hockey. Korea finished sixth at the 2010 Vancouver Paralympics. The team aimed to stand on the medal podium at the 2014 Sochi Paralympics. Jung, who lost his father in 2013, was also determined to show everything he had but Korea remained seventh after losing to Canada and Italy.
The Korean ice hockey team's story was featured in the documentary film "Parallel" as well. Director Kay Kim filmed the team's 2012 campaign for the World Championship. The film was recently released on March 7 and showed the moment the Korean team won its first-ever silver medal at the championship.
With the PyeongChang Paralympics, Jung said he would like to show how fun ice sledge hockey is.
"I will try to show the excitement of our sports so that many people can change their perspectives," Jung said.
He also added there should be more support for Paralympic sports so that the athletes can continue played after the PyeongChang Paralympics.
"I heard that officials are going to shut down many facilities after the Paralympics, but I really want people to support our athletes so they can use the facilities even after the competition," Jung said.
By Baek Byung-yeul
Korean sledge ice hockey player Jung Seung-hwan lost his right leg at the age of five after construction pipes collapsed on him.
Recalling his childhood, the 31-year-old said he spent days without any dreams or hopes.
"My half-hour commute to school always felt like hell to me," Jung told reporters at the athletes' village in PyeongChang March 6. "I had no self-confidence, and I was busy hiding from others."
However, his life changed when he was introduced to ice sledge hockey.
Ever since he began playing ice sledge hockey in 2004 while in college, he emerged as one of the world's best forwards in the sport.
Compared to other hockey players he is diminutive in size as he stands at 167 centimeters. But with his superior agility, Jung is one of the best forwards in his sport. Also known by the nickname "Messi on ice," Jung also has outstanding puck control.
Jung told reporters his ultimate goal is to become a guiding light for children with disabilities.
"The goal that I want to achieve more than winning a medal is to become a guiding light for children with disabilities who have lost their dreams and hopes.
"I believe many of them don't know there are sports for the disabled. I want to help many young disabled people to play sports through the PyeongChang Paralympics," he said.
Ice sledge hockey is one of the six sports featured in the PyeongChang Paralympics. It is designed to allow athletes whose leg or legs are amputated to play ice hockey. While ice hockey players use only one stick, the ice sledge hockey players use two sticks sitting on a double-blade sledge instead of wearing skates.
Korea currently is world No. 3 and as the nation's team won the bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships, Jung was Korea's leading scorer with six goals including the winning goal against Norway in the bronze medal match.
With Jung, Korea aims to win their first ice sledge hockey medal at the Paralympics. Paired with the United States, Czech Republic and Japan in Group B, Korea got off to a good start defeating Japan 4-1 in its first game in the preliminary round.
In the second game against Czech Republic, Korea won 3-2 in overtime. Though it fell to world No.2 U.S. 8-0, Tuesday, Korea secured a semifinal spot. In the semifinals against world No. 1 Canada on Thursday, Korea was defeated 7-0.
In Paralympics ice sledge hockey, eight teams compete in the preliminaries and the top two teams in Group A and B advance to the semifinals. Now Korea will vie for the bronze medal against the winner from another semifinal match between the U.S. and Italy on Thursday night.
Korea has never won a medal in Paralympic ice sledge hockey. Korea finished sixth at the 2010 Vancouver Paralympics. The team aimed to stand on the medal podium at the 2014 Sochi Paralympics. Jung, who lost his father in 2013, was also determined to show everything he had but Korea remained seventh after losing to Canada and Italy.
The Korean ice hockey team's story was featured in the documentary film "Parallel" as well. Director Kay Kim filmed the team's 2012 campaign for the World Championship. The film was recently released on March 7 and showed the moment the Korean team won its first-ever silver medal at the championship.
With the PyeongChang Paralympics, Jung said he would like to show how fun ice sledge hockey is.
"I will try to show the excitement of our sports so that many people can change their perspectives," Jung said.
He also added there should be more support for Paralympic sports so that the athletes can continue played after the PyeongChang Paralympics.
"I heard that officials are going to shut down many facilities after the Paralympics, but I really want people to support our athletes so they can use the facilities even after the competition," Jung said.
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