Brothers on and off the slopes

China's snowboarding team dominates Paralympics event

After winning gold and silver at the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympic Games, Ji Lijia posted a photo on social media with his three teammates from China's men's snowboarding team.

"Meet my big brother, second elder brother and younger brother," the 19-year-old wrote in the post.

Interviewed afterward, he said that the feeling he was being supported was what had given him strength and confidence.

"The team are like real brothers who take care of each other in life as well as while snowboarding. I'm so happy all of them have won medals at the Beijing Winter Paralympics," said Ji, who took gold in the snowboard men's cross and silver in the banked slalom SB-UL event at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province.

Ji, Wang Pengyao and Zhu Yonggang made a clean sweep of the snowboard men's cross SB-UL medals on March 7.

"The feeling of standing on the podium with my brothers was amazing. It was a perfect moment," he said.

Ji, who made his debut at the Games, said he took up the sport in 2016 because it looked cool.

"I'm going to keep on snowboarding because it has made me a completely different person. Actually, it's a sport for everyone because it makes people open-minded and passionate," he said.