Gunning for glory: Paralyzed ex-Jeju United keeper aims for sport shooting success at Paralympics
Published: 17 Dec. 2024, 15:37
Updated: 17 Dec. 2024, 17:28
![Yu Yeon-su poses for a photo during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on Dec. 16. [KOREAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/17/40526d1a-0538-417b-87d4-f4af9b331e38.jpg)
Yu Yeon-su poses for a photo during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on Dec. 16. [KOREAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE]
Former Jeju United goalkeeper Yu Yeon-su is chasing his dream of competing as a sport shooter at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics after being forced to leave the pitch following a car accident that left him paralyzed from the waist down in 2022.
Yu, 26, started his professional football career at the island's K League club in 2020 and played until 2022, when he lost the use of his legs after the car he was in was hit by a drunk driver.
The former footballer chose sport shooting as the next chapter of his sporting career.
He joined BDH Paras — a para-athletics organization dedicated to fostering the development of parasports and athletes with disabilities — that has produced multiple athletes who have shone on the international stage, including Korea’s first winter Paralympic gold medalist Sin Eui-hyun, who topped the podium in the men’s 7.5-kilometer classical sitting cross-country skiing event at the 2018 Paralympics, and sport shooter Jo Jeong-du, who won gold at the Paris Games this summer.
“I am so happy that I cannot even describe how I feel,” Yu said on Monday during an initiation ceremony at the Olympic Hall in southern Seoul. “I feel happier than when I joined a pro football team.”
Yu encountered sport shooting when he was undergoing rehabilitation after the accident.
“It requires concentration akin to being a goalkeeper,” Yu said. “You may think that sport shooting is not difficult, but it is a sport where I have to focus from the moment I put on heavy clothes. It is a demanding sport that is stressful and requires concentration.”
Yu’s idol is Park Jin-ho, who has won three medals — two gold and one silver — at the Paris Paralympics this year on top of one silver and one bronze medal from the Tokyo Games in 2021 and multiple medals from the Asian Para Games.
“As I watched Park Jin-ho, I thought to myself that I want to be as good a competitor as him and medal,” Yu said. “I think opportunity comes if I work hard. I’ve always worked diligently since I started football.”
Yu has only undergone basic training so far, as sport shooters first need to learn the proper posture.
![Yu Yeon-su poses for a photo during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on Dec. 16. [KOREAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/17/2c314f72-bbe4-427d-bf79-93b9809acd36.jpg)
Yu Yeon-su poses for a photo during an interview with the JoongAng Ilbo on Dec. 16. [KOREAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE]
“Basic skills are important in every sport,” Yu said. “Korea Paralympic Committee President Jung Jin-owan and my coach, who were both sport shooters, told me that my basic skills determine 10, 20 and 30 years of my career. It could be demanding and tedious to maintain the same posture for one or two hours, but if I give up, I will not succeed.”
If Yu medals at the 2028 Paralympics, he will follow in footsteps of the Korean sport shooters that have won the most gold medals for the country in Paris this summer at three, in addition to one silver and two bronze.
Korean sport shooters have consistently excelled at the Paralympics, claiming a total of 59 medals — 24 gold, 16 silver and 19 bronze — to top the medal count standings. The country was the best-performing shooting team in 2024 as well as in 1988, 2000 and 2008.
Competing in the 2028 tournament would also allow Yu to fulfill his quest to represent Korea, which he failed to achieve as a footballer, never earning a cap at any level.
![Yu Yeon-su poses for a photo during a joining ceremony at Olympic Hall in southern Seoul on Dec. 16. [KOREAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE]](https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/data/photo/2024/12/17/5eeaa410-e6de-4e1d-ae01-9f303b201dac.jpg)
Yu Yeon-su poses for a photo during a joining ceremony at Olympic Hall in southern Seoul on Dec. 16. [KOREAN PARALYMPIC COMMITTEE]
“I think a medal and a place in the national team will come naturally if I work hard,” Yu said. “I want to showcase a strong performance at the 2028 Los Angeles Paralympics. I think this life as a sport shooter is the first chapter of my life. There are goals that I didn’t achieve as a footballer. I will put the Korean flag [over my heart]. I will work to be a person that can empower those that support me.”
Yu also hopes to be a sound example of a person with a disability who is out and about, enjoying life to the fullest.
“A lot of people who become disabled in the middle of their lives don’t get out of their homes,” he said. “I will work to make them think, ‘if he can do it, I can do it, too.’
“I will do my best to make people think of Yu Yeon-su when they think of para sport shooting.”
BY KIM HYO-KYUNG [[email protected]]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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