Chanel Model, Doctor, Thai Princess, and Actor: Unique Day Jobs of Asian Games Athletes

The 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games feature 10,798 athletes from 45 National Olympic Committees (NOCs).

With such a massive number of participants, quite a few athletes are balancing their athletic careers with unique day jobs instead of focusing solely on sports.

Chim Wing-lam, the setter for the Hong Kong women's volleyball team who faced off against South Korea on September 16, works as a active fashion model.

She has been juggling her athletic career and modeling since her middle school days.

Last year, she even walked the runway at the Chanel Spring collection fashion show held in Hong Kong.

In an interview with Vogue Hong Kong last year, she shared, "I mustered up the courage to contact an agency while in middle school, which marked the beginning of my journey as a model. Unlike volleyball, modeling doesn't have a systematic structure and requires improvisational posing, which was a huge challenge for me as an introverted person."


Kartik Jairaj Karkera, an Indian national competing in the men's marathon, is an orthopedic surgeon.

Karkera, who started running marathons as a hobby, earned his ticket to the Asian Games after recently clocking a personal best of 2 hours, 13 minutes, and 10 seconds, the third-fastest time in Indian history.

Raised in a middle-class family in Mumbai, India, Karkera left for Russia in 2016 to study medicine, and it was there that he fell in love with track and field.

In an interview with India Today, he said, "As classes shifted online due to the spread of COVID-19 at the time, I ran almost every day at the playground near my university dorm. Naturally, my skills improved as I sometimes ran over 20 kilometers."

He made a name for himself at the Russian university athletic championships in 2021 and 2022, and finished sixth in the Moscow Half Marathon in 2023.

After returning to India, he split his sleeping hours to continue his marathon training while working as a medical resident.

Ahead of this tournament, he even went on overseas training camp in Kenya.

He noted, "There was a time when my father strongly opposed it, even telling me to choose between my studies and my athletic career. Now, he is my most reliable supporter and plans to come to Nagoya to cheer me on during this competition."


Justin Cheung, an infielder for the Hong Kong baseball team, works as an actor and singer.

After pursuing his baseball career, Cheung transitioned into the entertainment industry, gained popularity by appearing in numerous films, and recently resumed playing sports to rejoin the Hong Kong national baseball team.

In an interview with the weekly magazine Ming Pao last year, he stated, "It was challenging as I had to juggle training while shooting the final installment of the movie Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In, but I poured everything into my dreams through high-intensity training. This tournament will mark the end of my athletic career."

He previously represented the Hong Kong baseball team at the 2010 Guangzhou and 2014 Incheon Asian Games.


Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana Rajakanya of Thailand, competing in equestrian dressage, is a member of the Thai royal family.

Often referred to as Princess Nariratana, she is the second daughter of current Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn (Rama X) and is active as a fashion designer as well as a badminton and equestrian athlete.

She competed in badminton at the 2004 Doha Games and in equestrian events at the 2014 Incheon Games.

She also personally designed the official uniforms for the Thai national delegation at this event.

Chan Wing-yau, a member of the Hong Kong women's padel national team, works in the financial sector.

A graduate of the University of Cambridge, Chan holds an executive-level position at the investment advisory firm Carret Private Capital Limited.

Padel, a sport combining tennis and squash and resembling a modified form of tennis, is a new discipline adopted as an official event for the first time at this Games.

Even elementary school students are competing in this tournament.

Yuki Kurihara, the e-sports Puyo Puyo representative for Japan, is currently in the fifth grade of elementary school and is considered a strong gold medal contender.


(Photo: Captured from Chim Wing-lam's social media, captured from Justin Cheung's social media, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.