Hong Kong runner So Wa-wai won the special administrative region of China its first gold in athletics on Monday.

The 26-year-old set a world record of 24.65 sec in the men's 200m T36 race, surging ahead of Ukraine's silver medalist Roman Pavlyk and China's bronze medalist Chen Mian.

So Wa-wai (right) of Hong Kong celebrates after winning the final of the men's 200m T36. [Xinhua]

"I'm very happy that I won the gold medal again and broke my own world record," So said.

"I was ill before the competition so I was not in good shape I didn't begin my run at my normal speed, but later pushed myself harder, caught up with the others and won."

Born with jaundice, So has limited hearing abilities and difficulty maintaining balance, but was always keen on running. At age 10, his enthusiasm for the sport was discovered by coach Poon Kin-lui.

Five years later, hard work and intensive training paid off when So won his first Paralympic gold in the men's 4x100m relay at the 1996 Atlanta Games.

Prior to Beijing, So had collected five gold, two silver and three bronze, also breaking three world records over the last three Games. He is also the current world record holder for the 100m and 200m in his class.

So credits his sporting success to famous Hong Kong singer Andy Lau, who is his good friend and boss.

After his father was injured on the job, So had to work all day to help support his family. He was about to give up training when Lau - who is also goodwill ambassador of the Beijing Paralympics and sang the theme song at the Opening Ceremony - offered So a full-time job at his company, with time for training.

So didn't do so well in his favorite 100m race last Tuesday, but said it was Lau's support afterwards that pushed him to gold in the 200m race yesterday.

"In the 100m finals I didn't hear the gun clearly, so I didn't make a good start and lost the gold," So said. "Lau encouraged me to go on and do better in the later races. Today, I finally made it a gold."

This gold is not likely be the last for So; he said he intends to continue running after the Beijing Games.