Page 4 - CUHK MEDICAL ALUMNI Newsletter Issue 1 Vol 5 2017

FEATURES
03

SPORTS ENTHUSIASTS

hey took up a sporting hobby to challenge themselves…and now, they find their chosen sports are fulfilling their
Tlives, both personally and professionally.

EYE SURGEON’S WORK INVOLVING

DECISION AND PRECISION HELPS HIM

EXCEL IN GUN COMPETITIONS

“Whenever I pick a weapon to shoot, I already
have the attention, the focus and the control.”

- Dr Dylan Chan Ding-nai

（陳鼎鼐醫生, MBChB 1991）

the shockwave, the noise, the kick. I
almost lost my balance. But for me, it
was the beginning of another chapter
in my life.”
He ended up spending the whole
afternoon on the range, trying out
different kinds of pistols. And it can
safely be said, it was also the day his
love affair with firearms began.
Dr Chan believes his friend intentionally
gave him the biggest gun in the club
to intimidate him into respecting the But during his heydays in 2013, he
weapon. And respect is something he took home 13 shooting prizes. He
knows very well. “What I learnt, as a credits all the winnings to his most
student at the Faculty of Medicine of prized possession - a German gun
The Chinese University of Hong Kong, which is famous for its precision.
is to be a humble and careful doctor.
or eye surgeon Dr Dylan Chan, So just like in shooting, where the Dr Chan says nobody should be
surprised he picked up shooting as
Fbecoming a shooting sports equipment is a lethal weapon, to be one of his hobbies.
enthusiast happened by chance. He humble and careful are the two most
had just finished treating a patient, important prerequisites.” “Nearly everyone, whether a boy
some six years ago, when her father And being an ophthalmologist or girl, must have held a water gun,
asked Dr Chan whether he had done also helped…he did not have the pellet gun or just a dummy gun while
any shooting at all, and would he be teething pains of first-time shooters. they were young. Or, they would
interested in trying it out? “An eye surgeon’s work is all about have watched action movies involving
absorption, decision and precision. weapons. So, we were all exposed to
“I thought…why not?,” he recalls. those things during childhood.” And,
Shooting is also the same,” he
The man happened to be a member says. “Whenever I pick a weapon to he admits, guns have always been at
of a local gun club. On the day he shoot, I already have the attention, the back of his mind, a kind of “subtle”
took Dr Chan to the club, he handed the focus and the control.” yearning, he explains. So when given
him the biggest gun on the premises the opportunity, he grabbed it.
- a magnum revolver. It was exactly Dr Chan - who graduated in 1991, spent Dr Chan calls on medical students to
the type that American actor/producer two years in a casualty department pick a hobby…“pick anything that
Clint Eastwood had used in his before switching to ophthalmology - is will balance out your stress.”
spaghetti westerns. now a busy private practitioner. These
days he can only partake in his hobby “Being a doctor can be mentally
“It was the first time I held a weapon in on Sundays. And, even then, he adds, draining. You have to balance out
my hands,” Dr Chan recalls. “The first Sundays will often be divided between your career and life. Otherwise, you
bang was so alarming. I didn't expect his family and guns. will just get burnt-out easily.”