Team China coach Tan Zhiqin

Two years ago, mainland rider Peng Yulian didn't know how to ride a horse and never would have thought he'd be competing in the Paralympics.

But Wednesday, he finished in sixth place overall in the grade 2 individual freestyle test.

The rapid, ambitious progress was witnessed by Team China coach Tan Zhiqin.

With Peng's preparation for the Games starting in April 2006, Tan described it as a race against time.

Peng, 22, was diagnosed with infantile paralysis before he was 1 year old. He has been in a wheelchair his whole life. And in the last two years, he was pushed harder than most Paralympians, having to learn his sport quickly in order to compete at high levels within a short period.

And Peng wasn't alone. That April, China started training Para-equestrian riders as part of its campaign to put athletes in every Paralympic event.

Peng, classified as grade 2 disabled, was selected to undergo training along with two other riders in grade 2 and 4.

The 28-year-old Tan, an equestrian athlete on the Guangdong team since 1998, was appointed as team leader and coach.

His first challenge was to help the riders become familiar with horses, which the riders knew very little about.

For a normal person, it takes a month of training to get on a horse and start riding it at a slow speed. However, the training period for such simple tasks can be extended to six months for the disabled, who may have difficulty maintaining their balance, in addition to low self-esteem, in some instances.

Peng needed another two months before being able to ride around the training course.

"The task is arduous," Tan said. "We have put forth 100 percent effort. Time and opportunity would not wait for us. Countries such as Britain have 20 or more years of experience. We had only two years."

Even though he wasn't riding, Tan also had a tough time getting used to his role, mainly because Para-equestrian competitions were new to China, and he had no experience training disabled riders.

So, the team sought the assistance of Hong Kong, which has some experience with disabled sports.

Peng normally trained for two hours each day, but he sometimes lost his temper and wanted to give up because Tan was very demanding.

"Training isn't a game," Tan said. "We wouldn't let Peng leave the course until his performance satisfied us. He sometimes had hard feelings and wanted to quit."

But Tan managed to pull him out of his frustration.

"I asked him to think about whether he would regret quitting after putting forth such a huge effort," Tan said.

Thanks to the rigorous training, Peng took the bronze in a small competition in Brazil in 2006. But it wasn't enough to qualify for the Paralympics.

Then, a setback - an equine-disease outbreak in Australia. The team had to cancel plans to compete in a qualifying event.

So, the team could only lay its hopes on the China Para-equestrian qualifying competition held in March. Peng, the only rider from China, seized the final chance to qualify.

Tan isn't certain whether he will continue coaching the disabled riders. It depends on what the nation needs, he said.

"But my goal of being a Para-equestrian coach," he said, "is achieved."

(HK Edition 09/12/2008 page1)