KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — A 17-year-old boy has become the first Malaysian to win a silver medal at the prestigious Genée International Ballet Competition in Toronto, Canada recently.

Julian Wen-Sheng Gan, who started dancing at the age of three, was also the first Malaysian to enter the final round of the competition that is organised by the London-based Royal Academy of Dance.

The academy, dubbed the world’s most influential dance and training organisations. has Queen Elizabeth II as its patron.

However, the road to glory for the young boy was paved with lots of hardship, sacrifices and sorrow.

Speaking to the English newspaper The Star, the teenager revealed that he was bullied in school for pursuing his passion.

"I was bullied because I did ballet, wore tights and looked like a ‘sissy’.

"At times, I felt really lonely,” added Gan.

That was one of Gan’s many challenges he needed to overcome aside from studies, injuries and loneliness.

Despite all that, Gan’s life took a tragic turn merely a month before the competition when his 63-year-old father died due to pancreatic cancer.

"I felt very sad, lost and emotional.

"It’s a feeling that is really hard to describe.

"Throughout the competition and even now, I would have flashes of him, memories or certain things that reminded me of him,” he said.

Determined and poised, Gan knew that he had to focus and do his best in the competition to fulfil one of his father’s last wishes.

Apart from winning a silver medal, Gan also took home the Margot Fonteyn Audience Choice Award.

"Winning the silver was a pleasant surprise considering that the competition was very tough.

"To be able to win such a prestigious competition was more of an honour rather than a merit,” he said.

Growing up, Gan aspired to dance with people from all around the world.

In 2014, he joined the Asian Grand Prix International Ballet Competition and it was there he fell in love with the art form.

"Coincidentally, it was the results of the competition that helped take me from dreaming about dancing to actually pursuing it,” he said.

Gan eventually won a gold medal and a scholarship to attend the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C.

"Being a boy in ballet itself is quite rare, but more boys have started appearing in ballet scenes around the world, even in Malaysia,” he said.

He also noted that dance requires one to love the art form and ‘if you don’t love it, you won’t be happy.”