Soccer-obsessed Burmese teen Kaung Khant Lin roots for Manchester United, worships star Lionel Messi and was honored as the best player in a tournament.
However, the 16-year-old expertly navigates the pitch with just one leg and a crutch, the only disabled player on his team.
“Whenever I play football, I forget about my legs and I play as a normal person,” he said after celebrating his goal with teammates.
Photo: AFP
On sandy ground in the outskirts of Yangon, Myanmar, he dribbled a ball with incredible agility, pivoting expertly on the crutch before shooting to score with his left foot.
Kaung Khant Lin was born with a stump for a right leg that today protrudes from his soccer shorts.
He remembers first kicking a ball around the streets when he was five, keeping his balance on a wooden crutch crafted by his uncle.
Now he sees himself as pretty versatile on the pitch and does not see his disability as his main weakness.
“Nobody can get past me, but it’s hard for me to defend against free-kicks as I’m short,” he said.
Nearly one in 50 people in Myanmar has some form of walking disability, according to the nation’s latest census in 2014.
Unlike Kaung Khant Lin, many are survivors of land mines planted in the conflicts plaguing the nation’s restive borderlands.
People with disabilities face huge discrimination and 85 percent are unemployed, said Thin Thin Htet, program manager at Shwe Minn Tha Foundation (Myanmar).
“Most people think that those with disabilities cannot work,” she said.
Kaung Khant Lin has so far defied the odds, even rising to local fame in a soccer tournament on Independence Day, a public holiday in January, when communities compete in team games.
His two goals helped propel his side to victory and also clinched his award of “Player of the Tournament.”
Teammate Moe Sat Han, 14, said they used to worry about their friend’s leg getting broken, but there was no way they could stop him playing.
They often play the whole day from morning until night, even forgetting to eat, and that is when “his Dad gives him a huge telling off,” Moe Sat Han said.
Kaung Khant Lin’s father, a 41-year-old painter and decorator, said he cannot even bring himself to watch his son play.
“I don’t want to see him get injured in front of me,” Soe Min Htun said, adding that he just wants his son to go to university.
Kaung Khant Lin is working hard at school in the hope of studying mechanical engineering — even if he dreams of becoming a soccer coach one day.
However, in the meantime, he will keep trying to emulate his hero: Messi.
“He’s left-handed and I am too,” he said. “I practice free-kicks just like he does.”
Yu Yao-hsing on Tuesday nabbed Taiwan’s only goal in the final round of qualifiers for the 2027 AFC Asian Cup, as they fell 3-1 to Sri Lanka at Taipei Municipal Stadium. Early goals from Sri Lanka in the first half left Taiwan struggling to get on the board, and Christopher Tiao’s own goal at 53 minutes sealed the team’s fate in the third round of qualifiers. While acknowledging that the defeat, Taiwan’s sixth in Group D, was disappointing, head coach Matt Ross said he saw reasons to stay positive about the team’s development. “There were lots of positive signs in terms of the
Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli yesterday vowed to “keep raising the bar” after winning the Japanese Grand Prix to become the youngest driver in Formula One history to lead the championship standings. The 19-year-old Italian took advantage of a mid-race safety car to jump into the lead after a dreadful start from pole position, crossing the line ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Antonelli’s Suzuka victory came two weeks after the first grand prix win of his career in China, and sent him top of the championship standings after three races, nine points ahead of team-mate George Russell. Mercedes are struggling to
INDIGESTION: Italy failed to qualify for the World Cup for a third consecutive time after a 4-1 defeat to Bosnia on penalties in a loss Gattuso said was ‘difficult to digest’ Coach Graham Arnold on Tuesday challenged his players to “shock the world” after Iraq became the 48th and final team to qualify for the FIFA World Cup with a nerve-shredding 2-1 win over Bolivia in an intercontinental playoff in Mexico, as Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) also secured their places at the finals. Iraq, whose preparations were disrupted by the war in the Middle East, sealed their first appearance at the finals in 40 years and are to play in Group I against France, Senegal and Norway. Goals from Ali al-Hamadi
Teng Kai-wei, the only Taiwanese player on an opening-day roster in this year’s Major League Baseball (MLB) season, took his first win of the year with the Houston Astros in his season debut. Teng entered in relief in the top of the fifth inning against the Los Angeles Angels on Saturday, with the Astros trailing 5-0. He pitched 2-1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts, as Houston scored 11 runs during his outing to snatch an 11-9 comeback victory. The win is the Astros’ first of the season and the third of Teng’s MLB career. “It’s my first time pitching for the Astros, so
RSS