After 18 years side by side, boccia star and mother prepare for final Games together

For 18 years, boccia player Choi Ye-jin and her mother have competed side by side through hardships and Paralympic triumphs. Now, the pair are preparing for their final competition together at the Aichi-Nagoya 2026 Asian Para Games.

"Boccia is a lifelong companion for Ye-jin," said Moon Woo-young, the mother of national boccia team member Choi Ye-jin.

Moon vividly remembers 2008, the year that changed her daughter's life. Choi was born with a neurological condition affecting her movement and began playing boccia that year at age 17, while still in high school.

"I never once told my daughter that she couldn't do something or that something was impossible for her as she was growing up," Moon said.

When Choi was 5 years old, Moon taught her daughter to swim to help develop the strength and determination to overcome challenges. The decision to take up boccia was also entirely Choi's own.

Choi had a fierce competitive streak. She inherited her athletic spirit from her father, a former hapkido athlete, and her mother, a former taekwondo athlete.

She trained nine hours a day, even enduring the bitter cold of winter gyms that sometimes left her with frostbite. Within months of taking up boccia, Choi won the National Youth Para Games and earned a place on the national team just two years later.

Boccia is a precision ball sport designed for athletes with cerebral palsy and other disabilities affecting motor function. Players throw or roll balls weighing 275 grams (9.7 ounces), which are slightly larger and heavier than baseballs, and aim to land them as close as possible to a white target ball. The sport resembles curling or billiards, with players knocking opponents' balls away or blocking their paths.

Athletes with severe physical disabilities use a sloped ramp to guide the ball and push a sticklike pointer with their mouth or head to release it.

Coordination with an assistant who adjusts the ramp's angle and direction is crucial. For Choi, that assistant has always been her mother. Moon, who also worked as an aerobics instructor, gave up the fitness studio she had operated for more than 20 years to accompany her daughter both on and off the court.

Under boccia rules, assistants are prohibited from speaking during matches and may only follow instructions given by athletes through words or gestures.

But years of working together have made communication second nature for the mother and daughter. Choi carefully plans each move, while Moon positions the heavy ramp to help her daughter send the ball precisely where she wants it.

"During matches, I forget about everything else," Moon said. "In those moments, I'm not her mother. I'm simply her partner."

Over 18 years of training and competing together, the pair have won two Paralympic gold medals and one silver medal.

Their journey has not been without setbacks. Choi struggled with shoulder pain caused by calcific tendinitis, which prevented her from performing at her best for some time. But Choi eventually made a full recovery following surgery and snagged a silver medal at the Seoul 2026 World Boccia Championship that ran between August and September.

"Boccia has made me healthier both physically and mentally," Choi said. "I used to be shy, but I've become much more outgoing since I started playing."

Choi has also grown more independent and can now handle many everyday tasks without her mother's help.

The Asian Para Games, which opened Sunday, will mark the final competition in which the mother and daughter work together.

"I've been her partner and coach for nearly 20 years," Moon said. "Ye-jin wants to keep competing until she's 50, but I'm getting older, too. I think she'd be better off working with a more skilled assistant."

Despite the bittersweet farewell ahead, Choi made a strong start to the Games. She defeated India's Anjali Devi 8-0 in her opening group-stage match of the women's individual BC3 event on Monday.

Meanwhile, Seo Hoon-tae, a bronze medalist in shooting at the Paris Paralympics, claimed Korea's first gold medal of this year's Games.

Seo won the R4 mixed 10-meter air rifle standing event in the SH2 classification on Monday, scoring 254.6 points across 24 shots to set a new Asian record.

BY KIM HYO-KYOUNG [[email protected]]