Paralympic silver medallist and Hong Kong’s only para-badminton professional athlete Daniel Chan Ho-yuen on reaching the top

Daniel Chan Ho-yuen, who secured a silver medal at Paris 2024, has consistently ranked among the world’s best para-badminton players since 2011. Now retired from international competition, he aims to inspire the next generation of para-athletes

Daniel Chan Ho-yuen is Hong Kong’s only professional para-badminton athlete. He has been in the top four in the world rankings for para-badminton since 2011 and today ranks second. At the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics, the first- time that para-badminton formed part of the games’ programme, Chan won bronze; and at Paris 2024, he won silver.

Chan was already a passionate badminton player when he got into a car accident at the age of 22, in which he lost his left leg. He was released from the hospital after 11 months and began playing badminton in a wheelchair. It was then he realised para-badminton didn’t exist as a professional sport in Hong Kong.

Above Daniel Chan Ho-yuen wearing a Thom Browne outfit from Lane Crawford

Daniel Chan Ho-yuen wearing a Thom Browne outfit from Lane Crawford

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“There were no coaches, sparring partners or role models.” He thought that if he wanted to play professionally, he’d have to establish a system himself—which he did, “from zero”. This was in 2009. In 2017, Chan became one of Hong Kong’s first full-time para-athletes, under the system introduced by the government and the Hong Kong Sports Institute that year.

Chan initially planned to retire after Tokyo 2020. “I had wanted to finish on a high,” he explains. “This is how I like to describe what I do: in sports, if you are able to go to the Olympics, you get to 100; and if you win, you get to 101. I started at zero and got to 101.”

After all, para-badminton demands a high degree of mobility and physically strenuous training. Chan, who is 39, also kept hearing that he should retire: “Every year, people would tell me: you are old, you are old, you are old. It started to make me think I really
was getting old.” But when the 2020 Games were postponed, and training was taking place in highly unusual circumstances during Covid, Chan felt he would be unwilling to settle. The decision to keep going paid off: “I’m glad that I was able to compete in Paris and turn my bronze into a silver; it has been a blessing.”

Above Daniel Chan Ho-yuen wearing a Thom Browne outfit from Lane Crawford

Daniel Chan Ho-yuen wearing a Thom Browne outfit from Lane Crawford

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The biggest challenges in Paris, he says, were competing at a relatively older age—many opponents were in their 20s—and with injuries. Chan stayed motivated in the face of such challenges by reminding himself he wanted to win—a mindset that he says has sustained him through the years. He also works hard to always present the best image of himself to the world: “People ask me: why do you gel your hair every day? I wanted to show people that para-athletes can display the utmost professionalism and discipline; that people with disabilities don’t look like they are broken.”

The Paris Games marked Chan’s final international competition—but he plans to remain involved in representing the under-represented. Looking ahead, he hopes to spend time working with people with disabilities, especially students with special educational needs. “It’s simple,” he says. “If we encourage more people with disabilities to go out into the world, then facilities accommodating them and opportunities that support their sporting endeavours will be bigger—and that’s how we find the next generation.”

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Credits

Creative Direction: Zoe Yau

Styling: Cherry

Stylist's Assistant: Alix Lefebvre

Photography: Issac Lam

Photography Assistant: Jason Li, Riki Chan, Hsiao

Make-Up: Heisan Hung

Hair: Him Ng

Set Design: Ip Siu

Set Design: Naomi Chiu, Red Tao, Kelly (Assistants)