Mr Lim is Singapore’s only professional badminton player with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism.
But his condition doesn’t mean that he is given special concessions in his beloved sport.
“Everything in the game is the same – the height of the net, size of the court, the shoes I wear and the rackets we use. I wish it (the court) was smaller, but it’s all the same,” Mr Lim told CNA.
Despite competing professionally for six years, he still feels amazed how the kid who constantly missed the shuttlecock when playing with his father at the car park now finds himself playing on courts across the region.
“My dad always tells me to remember who taught me (badminton) and to let everyone know,” he said.
“I have a video of me hitting (the shuttlecock) three times in a row and I dropped the racket and ran around celebrating.”
Mr Lim’s free-spirited attitude and zest for life can be seen both on the court and during breaks, when he playfully tried to kick his own head – a party trick that he used to effortlessly flaunt but gets harder as he grows older.
The athlete, who works full-time as a pre-registration pharmacist, was determined very early on to prove that his height would not limit him from being the best version of himself.
Even when he was growing up, he never allowed himself to feel like an outcast, and counted himself lucky to always be included.
He owed this sense of belonging to the sport that has helped him “overcome the mental and physical boundaries” over the years.
“I’ll admit that I was initially limited by my own presumptions of my condition. So I assumed I couldn’t run, jump very high, and do many other things.”
But his misconceptions changed when he started pushing himself to meet targets and surprised himself with how much he could do, the distances he could run, and even how high he could jump.
“At the end of the day, it’s nice to get medals but the biggest lesson I gained was understanding the boundaries were mostly in my mind. Yes, it was hard at some points, but it showed me that I can push the boundaries by pushing myself.”
