Chee Weng Fai Jason (; born 26 January 1983), also known as Jason Chee, is a Singaporean

para table tennis Para table tennis is a parasports which follows the rules set by the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF). The usual table tennis rules are in effect with slight modifications for wheelchair athletes. Athletes from disability groups can ...

player who had won gold medals at multiple editions of the

ASEAN Para Games The ASEAN Para Games is a biennial multi-sport event held after every Southeast Asian Games involving disabled athletes from the current 11 Southeast Asia countries. Participating athletes have a variety of disabilities ranging from spastic, ...

Early life and education

Chee was born in 1983 in Singapore to parents, Chee Kwok Chor and Chua Ah Lek His father, Chee, of Shanghainese descent, worked as a vegetable seller until his retirement in 2011. His mother, Chua, was a seamstress who died in 2011 due to kidney failure at the age of 65. Chee studied at Westlake Primary School, Guangyang Secondary School and then Ngee Ann Polytechnic.

Military career

While at Guangyang Secondary School, Chee joined the

Boys' Brigade The Boys' Brigade (BB) is an international interdenominational Christian youth organisation, conceived by the Scottish businessman Sir William Alexander Smith to combine drill and fun activities with Christian values. Following its inception ...

due to his admiration of their uniforms and marching. After his polytechnic education, Chee enlisted in the

Republic of Singapore Navy The Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) is the naval service branch of the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) responsible for defending the country against any sea-borne threats, and the protection of its sea lines of communications, that would com ...

. He served as a Military Expert-2 on board the ''RSS Endeavour'' at Changi Naval Base. On 10 December 2012, Chee had a serious accident when he was caught between a motorised winch and a berthing rope he was checking on. The incident caused Chee to lose both his legs, his left arm (with his dominant left hand), one whole right finger and parts of two other right fingers. Chee's accident resulted in Singaporeans coming forward to donate O+ blood, prompting the National Blood Programme to assure that there were already enough blood supplies for Chee and "clarify that directed and replacement donations (where families and friends are obliged to donate blood for the patient or to replace blood used by the patient) are not practised in Singapore". Chee was hospitalized until June 2013. He had had phantom limb pain for three or four months, but had dealt with it by not thinking of his missing limbs. In June 2014, Chee returned to work in the Singapore Navy, it being 18 months after his accident; he was assigned to be an operations supervisor in 191 Squadron. Concurrently, Chee was also studying for a degree in mathematics at the Singapore University of Social Sciences; such education was a wish of his late mother. In 2017, Chee was a desk-bound training specialist at Changi Naval Base.

Table tennis career

Chee started playing table tennis at the age of 5, eventually representing his primary school in the sport. In June 2013, Chee began playing para table tennis while equipped with prosthetic fingers; his efforts were supported by the Singapore Disability Sports Council. He formerly played table tennis with his left hand, but since his left arm had been amputated, he had to learn to play para table tennis with his right hand. In September 2013, Chee won two gold medals in para table tennis at Singapore's 8th National Disability League for para table tennis. At the January

2014 ASEAN Para Games The 2014 ASEAN Para Games, officially known as the 7th ASEAN Para Games, was a Southeast Asian disabled multi-sport event held in Naypyidaw, Myanmar three weeks after the closing of the 2013 Southeast Asian Games from 14 to 20 January 2014. Th ...

, Chee debuted for the Singapore national team by teaming with Darren Chua to win the bronze medal for the men's team Class 3 para table tennis event. At the same Games, Chee also won a silver in the men's individual Class 2 para table tennis event. Chee has been coached by Chia Chong Boon. At the ITTF 3rd Taichung Table Tennis Open for the Disabled in August 2015, Chee won a bronze for the men's singles Class 2 event. In December 2015 at the

2015 ASEAN Para Games The 2015 ASEAN Para Games, officially known as the 8th ASEAN Para Games, and commonly known as Singapore 2015, was a Southeast Asian disabled multi-sport event held from 3 to 9 December 2015 in the city-state of Singapore. Unlike the previou ...

, Chee helped Singapore win their first gold medal for para table tennis at the ASEAN Para Games by winning both his singles matches and his doubles match with team-mate Aaron Yeo. As a result, Singapore overcame Thailand 3–1 in the men's team Class 1–2 contest for the gold. In April 2017, Chee began to lose vision in his right eye due to a tumour. In May 2017, he was diagnosed with

choroidal melanoma Uveal melanoma is a type of eye cancer in the uvea of the eye. It is traditionally classed as originating in the iris, choroid, and ciliary body, but can also be divided into class I (low metastatic risk) and class II (high metastatic risk). Sympt ...

, a form of eye cancer. It was found that the cancer had not spread beyond his right eye, and that month Chee underwent successful surgery to remove his right eye; he was fully discharged from hospitalization in June 2017. The loss of his right eye affected Chee's depth perception, affecting his playing of para table tennis. In September 2017, Chee won a gold medal in the men's individual Class 2 para table tennis event during the 2017 ASEAN Para Games. At the same Games, Chee also won a bronze in the men's team Class 1–3 para table tennis event (compared to Class 1–2 in the previous Games, Class 1–3 can feature less impaired para-athletes). Chee also told of his target to graduate with a degree in mathematics in 2019/20. To this end, Chee decided to take a break from the competitive sports to concentrate on his studies at the Singapore University of Social Sciences. Hence, Chee gave up the opportunity defending his title in the 2020 ASEAN Para Games.

Personal life

In an interview published in October 2017, Chee said that he uses prosthetic legs to walk short distances while at work, but with the prosthetics it would take him 10 minutes to walk 25 metres. In contrast, his wheelchair can travel up to 12 kilometres per hour. Chee told of learning perseverance from his father, who for over 40 years refused to take a holiday from his work: collecting vegetables at 11.30pm from Pasir Panjang Wholesale Centre, and selling them the next day at Jalan Besar until 1pm. Chee also quoted that his mother wanted him to learn more skills so that he would not "lose to anyone". Chee has also told of his late mother's wisdom having made him stronger in dealing with his challenges. Chee was engaged to his girlfriend of three years, Nonie Marasigan Dumas on 1 March 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chee, Jason 1983 births Living people Singaporean people of Chinese descent Singaporean sportsmen ASEAN ParaGames competitors Paralympic table tennis players for Singapore People associated with the Singapore University of Social Sciences