China's Deng claims gold, silver in speed climbing

China’s climbing team won its first ever gold medal at the Hangzhou Asian Games, a major international sporting event, as its athlete Deng Lijuan made a history in claiming a gold in the speed climbing relay and a silver in the solo competition.

Deng Lijuan, born in 2000, started climbing at the age of 15 and became an athlete through hard training. With a passion for climbing, she persevered and got closer and closer to realize her dream of becoming a world champion.

In the arena of the Asian Games, Deng pocketed silver in the Women's speed on Oct 3 and stormed up to overtake her rival in the relay the next day.

"I'm really excited and very happy to be able to win the gold medal tonight," said Deng.

"I didn't think much of it, but just told myself to do well what I should do, and excel in each step of my scaling, while having good teamwork. As for my mindset, perhaps I had a little bit of regret yesterday, and my coach had a good chat with me when we got back last night. After the chat I felt light-hearted, and let those things pass and I started refreshed today for a new day," said Deng.

"It's inevitable to have some bottleneck and low periods in competitive sports, which do happen. But I think what matters the most is truly the mindset. That's to say, you should stay positive and constantly go up. Don't get obsessed with one or two failures of yours. You just fail at this moment, it doesn't mean you won't be able to do it later. Suppose you're indulged in the thoughts that you won't do it, and you give yourself some psychological hint that you won't do it, then you will really not make it," said Deng.

Starting on Sept 23, the 19th Asian Games is scheduled to close on Sunday. This year's edition is one of the largest ever, with around 12,500 athletes from 45 countries and regions competing in 40 sports, 61 disciplines, and 481 events.