Meet kitesurfer Christian Tio, Philippine bet to 2018 Youth Olympic Games

MANILA, Philippines – Expect the Philippine flag to be waved at the upcoming 2018 Youth Olympic Games after Boracay-native Christian Tio earned a ticket to the kitesurfing competition.

The 17-year-old Kitesurfer snatched a gold medal at the Kitesurfing Youth Olympic Qualifiers Asia in Pranburi, Thailand earlier this month, scoring 26 points, which is good enough to send him to Argentina.

“It’s been a goal to get to the Olympics and we’ve been waiting for kiting to get into the ‘Games for some time,” said Tio. “It feels pretty good to qualify and have the honor of representing my country. Now I’m in, I’ll do my best to win it.”

The upcoming 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games is slated from October 6 to October 8 in Buenos Aires, where 3,500 athletes from over 200 countries will compete.

Kitesurfing is one of the sports that will debut in the Olympics, aside from Freestyle BMX, futsal, sports climbing, karate and breakdancing.

Video by EC Toledo and Erwin Cagadas