About Ajmal Samuel...
AJMAL SAMUEL a Pakistani native, started his career in 1986 working as a telecommunication engineer for the Pakistan Military and had since carved out a highly successful career in the IT industry as well as in the disable-sports scene. A war veteran, he sustained a permanent spinal cord injury while serving in the Pakistan Army during the India-Pakistan border conflicts of the Eighties.
AJMAL SAMUEL worked as an IT consultant in various Asian and European companies for several years and is now the President and CEO of Cityline in Hong Kong, and has been heading up this company’s global expansion as an outsourced ticketing infrastructure and payment services provider since 2005. In addition to his busy career and hectic lifestyle, AJMAL SAMUEL is also a serious, avid sportsman and has been participating in various triathlons and marathons around the world. For the past four years he has trained religiously and has been participating competitively internationally in the sport of Handcycling. He represented Hong Kong in 2006 for the All-China Disabled Biking Race and came in second. He competed in the Handcycling segment of the renowned Tour De France in 2007, and currently holds a world-ranking of #27! He first competed in Singapore at the inaugural international Aviva-Ironman Triathlon in 2007 and finished second overall in his category. AJMAL SAMUEL has been appointed as the Race Director of the newly formed Handcycling Association Singapore in 2008.
AJMAL SAMUEL now resides in Hong Kong and speaks 5 languages fluently including Arabic, German and even some Cantonese!
About Dr William Tan...
Dr WILLIAM TAN personifies both passion and compassion. He contracted polio at the age of two and was paralyzed from the waist down. Notwithstanding his disability, he has shown outstanding strength in overcoming adversities. In pursuit of his dream to become a scientist and medical doctor, he ve
ntured abroad for postgraduate studies in 1989. Holder of a First Class Honours in Physiology, this Harvard University’s Fulbright Scholar and Oxford University’s Raffles Scholar has also trained at the world-renowned Mayo Clinic in USA.
Dr WILLIAM TAN is also an accomplished sportsman. An Asian-Pacific Games TRIPLE GOLD MEDALLIST, he has also competed in many international games including the 1988 Seoul Paralympics, the World Games as well as the Commonwealth Games. He holds six marathon world records including the “Fastest time to complete Three marathons in Three Consecutive Days in Three countries”. In 1987, he realized that, "winning medals, trophies or prize money should not be an end to itself. It should be a means to further goodness and to help people." Since then, he has devoted to championing as well as fundraising for needy causes in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and the United Kingdom. He has skydived, water-skied, sailed and even climbed a 14-storey building to raise money. Some of his ultra-marathon endeavors included wheelchair pushes across the length of New Zealand, Singapore to Penang, Thailand to Singapore, Boston to New York to Washington DC. He has helped raised more than $18 million for charities locally and internationally, over the last 20 years.
He had also received widespread national and international recognition including the highest youth accolade the Singapore Youth Award in 1995; Outstanding Young Persons of Singapore Award in 1996; the Outstanding Young Persons of the World Award (Humanitarian/ Voluntary Leadership) given by the Junior Chamber International, USA in 1997; the Commonwealth Youth Award for Excellence in Youth Work in 1998; the ASEAN Youth Award and the Public Service Medal in 2000. In 2003, he was honoured with the Reader's Digest Inspiring Asian Award which “recognize deserving individuals who must be able to demonstrate that they have made a difference or are making a difference and are encouraging others to do so”. In 2007, he was bestowed the prestigious Special Recognition Award and the Singapore National Day’s Public Service Star Award. In 2008, he was conferred the Singapore National Paralympic Council’s Sportsman of the Year and the FORTIS’ HEROES Awards.
On 6th April 2007, Dr Tan became the first person in the world to accomplish a marathon in the North Pole in 21hrs and 10mins despite overwhelming obstacles and extreme conditions of –25 deg C.
On 19th December 2007, Dr Tan became the fastest person in the world to complete 7 marathons across 7 continents in 27 days. His amazing race took him to Antarctica, Chile, Egypt, Thailand, Japan, Kenya, Italy, England, New Zealand, and USA between November and December 2007.
About Fung-liang...
Fung-liang FOO is a trained product designer by profession and currently serves as the President of the Handcycling Association, Singapore (HAS). In addition to his commitments with the Handcycling Association, he is also Chairman of Singapore Spinal Cord Injury Support Group. Before his Spinal cord injury, he spent close to 14 years studied and worked in the US. Fung-liang is an active and competitive sportsmen by nature who played NCAA Div. 2 tennis while in college and several local and regional USTA sanctioned tennis tournaments around Georgia/Florida USA.
He returned to Singapore in the spring of 2005 after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds from an armed robber in a restaurant in a small town in Louisiana, USA. The injuries resulted a permanent paralysis from his stomach down. Handcycling was introduced to him as a form of advance rehabilitation upon his discharge from the rehab hospital here in Singapore. The promotion of and competitive handcycling is his current focus. Since 2007, he has competed in the team relay, cycling leg in the AvivaIronman 70.3 International Triathlon and the Osim International Triathlons in Singapore and has continued to compete in both local and international races. Fung-liang harbors the aspirations to qualify and represent Singapore in Handcycling at the 2012 London Paralympics.
photo credits: SDSC
photo credits: SDSC
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. ALL WRONGS AVENGED! © 2009 HANDCYCLING ASSOCIATION SINGAPORE
our athletes’ list is still growing...watch this space.
