Chan Lina demonstrates her swing at a golf course in Phnom Penh in November. (Manabu Sasaki)
PHNOM PEHNH--A former Cambodian refugee is working hard on her golf game in hopes of "returning the favor" to her adoptive land of Japan by representing her home country in the sport in the 2020 Summer Games in Tokyo.
Chan Lina, 32, who fled with her family from conflict-torn Cambodia in 1983, wants to show her appreciation to Japan by making the most of the opportunity provided to her.
Chan spends her days busily practicing in Urasoe, Okinawa Prefecture, which has been her training ground.
Her goal is to make her international debut as a representative of Cambodia in the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where golf will be included as an event for the first time in 112 years.
“Cambodia is still a poor country, but I can possibly encourage children there to be proud of their country if I, as a former refugee, represent the country in the Olympics,” Chan said during a recent interview in Phnom Penh.
Chan was born during the time of civil war in Cambodia to a family led by a father who was a high school history teacher. As her father was part of an intellectual class that was subjected to persecution by the authoritarian communist regime, her family sought political asylum in Japan when she was a year and a half old.
Chan grew up in Kanagawa Prefecture as her father found a job at a printing factory there. In seeking to find her niche in school, the teenage Chan devoted her efforts to competing in soft tennis clubs, but elbow injuries forced her to quit the sport and eventually drop out of high school when she was in her second year.
After years of soul searching, she moved to Okinawa and picked up a golf club for the first time. She was already 24, and during her second ever practice session at a driving range, she saw Ai Miyazato, a leading Japanese woman professional golfer, practicing behind her.
Miyazato is almost the same height as Chan, who is 154 centimeters tall, yet she hit the ball as far as 200 yards in the air with an easy swing.
“I thought that this is probably the sport for me,” Chan recalled.
While working at a golf course, she practiced hard to become an instructor. Winning a sponsorship, she played in a tournament as a professional for the first time in 2012.
Although she finished in last place, she drew attention from people back home as the “first professional golfer from Cambodia.”
As Cambodia has no other promising golfer to represent it in the Rio de Janeiro Games, she has been chosen as a certified athlete by the country’s Olympic committee.
Chan has even greater hopes of competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“I hope I can stay competitive until the Tokyo Olympics, so that I can return the favor to Japan,” she said.
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