KUNMING, Southwest China, May, 10 (Xinhua) -- With sparkling eyes and a crimson face, 18-year-old swimmer Xu Yanru, one of the 2,251 registered athletes for the impending Chinese National Games for the Disabled, always smiled contagiously and was quick to tell her stories about sports.

    Although splashing with only one arm, she swam all the way up to the Athens Paralympics in 2004 and will represent Jiangsu province for the 7th National Games for the Disabled, running from12 to 20 in both Kunming, the capital of China's southwest Yunnan province, and neighboring city of Yuxi.

    "I've got tremendous joy from swimming, no matter where I am, either in Athens or at the sports venues in China, I always have the sense that the joy is being shared by all the athletes," said Xu.

    Out of the rough population of 60 million disabled persons in China, only a few have been awarded the chance like Xu, competing with athletes from all around the world. Yet, they do share the same opportunity for sports.

    Gao Wei, team manager of the Shanghai delegation, said that all his experience as a team leader convinced him the power of the sports.

    "Moments ago, those young people are quiet and solemn-faced, but once they jump into the swimming pool ? pure joy, they really enjoy the sport of their own choice, not required to achieve anything," said Gao.

    According to the local organizing committee, ever since 1982, the Chinese disabled athletes have garnered some 2,000 gold medals from the international sports arena, including the famed Paralympic Games where China made its debut in the New York Games in 1984.

    From the past six Paralympics, China has dispatched a combined total of 415 athletes who returned home with 143 golds and broke the world records 104 times. And in Athens in 2004, China made the breakthrough by topping the gold medal tally for the first time with 63 gold medals.

    Since 1983 when the Chinese Sports Association for Disabled Persons was founded, now named as the National Paralympic Committee of China, several hundreds of clinics and games have been conducted for the disabled athletes at various levels, including six national games with an accumulated number of tens of thousands registered athletes.

    The Chinese associations for the disabled athletes, founded by different levels of governments, have reached to the corners of the whole society.

    In the conversation here in Kunming, most of the time with ear to ear smile, Xu told her other fantasies she attempts to try: stride upon a dashing motorcycle, go parachuting, go diving and if possible, go to moon alone.

    "I am well awared that without all the sports, I would be as boring as doing such things as reading books, getting odd jobs from shops, or be my own boss," said Xu, "But now I am considering of winning the gold medals and of qualifying for the Beijing Paralympics."