In dancesport, the extent to which dancing partners understand each other tacitly, and how well they mutually coordinate are the keys to determine whether they can achieve excellent results. Dancing partners face challenges together, deal with difficulties and move towards the same goal, no matter whether they are on the dance floor, or whether they are in the stadium for competition. Tam Ka Pan and Vong Weng Lam, who started cooperating with each other ever since they were in the youth group, took over the first-tier positions in the Macao team officially this year. They have just won a bronze medal in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games, and they are determined to reach a higher level in the coming two years. “Our goal is the same. We hope that we can stand on the awarding podium of the World Championships, pass on our seniors' essence, and strive to nurture a new generation of Macao athletes.”
Becoming Partners by Chance
Since U Mei Kok and Fong Wai Kin retreated from the dance floor gradually, Pun Wun and Lam Chi Tong took over the leading roles officially, while a lot of new combinations in the team have also gradually become mature and turned to be rising stars. Tam Ka Pan and Vong Weng Lam were among them. Tam Ka Pan, who is 22 years old this year, got to know about dancesport in an interest class a decade ago. By chance, he partnered up with Vong Weng Lam and they cooperated very well even for the first time. In just three months, they achieved great results in the competitions in Hong Kong. Tam Ka Pan recalled, “As I am cooperating with Vong Weng Lam, the most impressive moment was the time when we were crowned the champions in the youth group of the qualifier held in Macao in 2009. At that time we became the first qualified pair to be the representatives of the Macao youth group to compete in the World Youth Championships hosted in Austria. In that year, we met contestants at the world-class level, which motivated us to make an effort to move forward, and drove us to make continuous progress since then.”
Growing together through Conflicts
Reading the records about the combination of Tam Ka Pan and Vong Weng Lam, it is not difficult to find that they have become very experienced local masters in dancing. In four consecutive years (2014-2017), they won the champion in the standard dance five-dance event and decathlon in the open category in Macao. They have once won the champion in the national decathlon in three consecutive years (2014-2016). They were awarded a bronze medal in the standard dance five-dance event of the Taiwan Asian Youth Championships in 2015. They also won a bronze medal in Viennese Waltz in the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games this year, winning the first medal in a large-scale multisport event for Macao's dancesport field.
However, on the path to success, frustration is unavoidable. There have been some disputes between Tam Ka Pan and Vong Weng Lam as well. “We always quarrel because of movements, skills or pace, but fortunately our coach resolved the conflicts and imposed strict requirements on us in terms of our movements. That advanced our growth.”