Another win for the Philippines!
Boracay native Christian Tio, 15, proved that age was just a number when he splashed his way to third place during the under-19 men’s category of the 2016 Kiteboarding Youth Cup held from Jun 27 to Jul 3 in Costa Brava, Spain.
The strong winds and high tides did not stop Tio from showcasing his signature moves. He knocked out his quarter-final competitors, but was unable to surpass Maxime Chabloz from Switzerland and Roman Giuliano from France, who finished first and second.
In his first junior world competition since the death of his father and coach, Chris Moh, in Feb 2016, Tio was the number one seed among his fellow competitors.
Despite his age, the young athlete was moved up to the U19 from the Under 17 category for his above-average skill on the waters.
Tio trained under professional kiteboarder and coach Fabio Ingrosso at Srilankakite, a professional kiteboarding school in Sri Lanka.
This was Tio’s third time to compete internationally. He ranked second for two consecutive years at the Junior Virgin Kitesurfing World Championships in 2014 and 2015.
