SINGAPORE — Thai para-swimmer Anchaya Ketkeaw will forever be known as the girl who had nothing, but won everything at the ASEAN Para Games.

The 17-year-old from the Thai city of Songkla became the most decorated athlete of this edition of the APG after winning all seven of her events. Yet it was not long ago when the orphan was branded “useless” by bullies.

The bespectacled teen with pink braces took her final gold medal today (Dec 8) in the women’s 200m individual medley, SM9.

As she stood atop the podium at the OCBC Aquatics Centre for the seventh time in five days, she could not help shedding a tear as she recalled the words of her late mother.

“My mother said because of my disability, some people are bound to look down on me,” said Anchaya, who was born without a lower right arm.

“So I have to be good at something, maybe become famous in swimming. That is so people would not think that disabled people cannot do anything, and will never succeed.”

Now she has made her name as the only athlete in this APG to win seven gold medals. Singapore swimmer Theresa Goh is second on the honour roll with five golds.

But how she wished her parents are still around to see her become a swimming champion. They both died when she was a child and she was taken care of by her elder siblings. “These medals are for my late parents,” said Anchaya as tears welled up. “My parents wanted me to do this.”

Calling herself a “very sensitive person” who keeps to heart what others say to her, Anchaya, who has two siblings, faced a lot of abuse after she was enrolled in a normal school with able-bodied students instead of a special-needs school. Until today, she remembers what someone once said to her: “You will never make it (in life). Whatever you do in life, it’s useless.” It seared her heart but made her more determined to prove others wrong.

“My mother wanted me to lead my life as normally as possible, and also socialise normally,” she said. “But in the end, I felt so left out (by the other students). But it is okay. I learnt to be stronger from it.”

Anchaya now attends a sports school in her province, training six days a week for up to four hours each time. She is a “little disappointed” that she has not met the qualifying times for the 2016 Paralympics, but is still hopeful of making it to Rio de Janeiro. “If not, I want to go for Tokyo 2020,” she said. “My aim is to win a Paralympics medal one day.”

At 17, time is still on her side, along with the words of her late mother.