Lai Chi-wai, a paraplegic on Saturday, scaled more than 250 metres of a skyscraper on a wheelchair.
The 37-year-old pulled himself up Nina Tower on the Kowloon peninsula for 10 hours. He undertook the feat to raise money for spinal cord patients. The event raised HK$ 5.5 million ($1 million). The height of Nina Tower stands tall at 320 metres— Chi-wai’s climb was called off for safety reasons. Prior to 2011, Chi-wai was four-times Asia champion for rock climbing and was ranked eighth globally one of the years.
"I was quite scared. Climbing up a mountain, I can hold onto rocks or little holes, but with glass, all I can really rely on is the rope that I'm hanging off,” Chi-wai told Reuters. Chi-wai was paralysed from the waist down 10 years ago on account of a car accident.
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“In a way, I forgot that I was a disabled person, I could still dream and I could still do what I liked doing,” Chi-wai said.
The athlete slapped his helmet a few times to remain awake and took small breaks to rest his arms, as he battled icy night-time weather and windy conditions to haul his wheelchair.
"Some people don't understand the difficulties of disabled people, some people think that we are always weak, we need help, we need assistance, we need people's pity," Chi-wai, who undertook the feat on the 10th anniversary of his accident, said. In 2016, Chi-wai climbed Hong Kong's Lion Rock on a wheelchair.
