By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
KITEBOARDER Christian Tio handed the Philippines its first medal in the ongoing Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, earning silver in the men’s kiteboarding IKA Twin Tip Racing on Sunday night (Manila time).
At fourth place heading into the final race of the event held at Club Nautica San Isidro in Buenos Aires, the Boracay-based kiteboarder bucked the elements to land at second place, along with Slovenian bet Toni Vodisek, behind consistent leader Deury Corniel of Dominican Republic, who bagged the gold.
Fil-Norwegian Tio nearly missed the podium after bad weather threatened to scrap all together the final race that would have left him stuck at fourth place.
“My mindset was just to go for it and enjoy,” said Tio as he spoke of his Youth Games experience. Adding, “Thank you for everyone who supported me, giving all the love.”
Tio was the country’s lone representative in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in kiteboarding after making the cut in the Asian Qualifiers in March.
He hopes that more people get to pick up kiteboarding as a sport since it suits well the Filipinos and the country.
“We have a lot of nice beaches and a lot of wind, there is a lot of potential for the sport, we just need more riders,” Tio said in an earlier interview with BusinessWorld.
“The kiteboarding scene [in the Philippines] is still quite small but it’s quickly growing,” he added.
To date, apart from the silver won by Tio, the Philippines also has one gold to show for in the history of the Youth Olympic Games care of archer Gab Moreno in the 2014 edition of the Games in China.
As of Monday noon, leading the medal standing was Russia with 24 gold, 11 silver and eight bronze medals, followed by Hungary (12-6-3), China (12-5-8), Mixed-National Olympic Committees (11-11-11) and Japan (11-6-9).
Rounding out the top 10 were Italy (9-8-9), Argentina (6-5-4), Iran (6-3-1), Australia (4-6-3) and United States (4-4-5).
The Filipino athletes’ campaign in the 2018 Youth Olympic Games can be seen over ESPN5 and live stream on ESPN5.com.
The 2018 Youth Olympic Games is happening until Oct. 19.
