By Eric Wu, bostonese.com
Boston, Sept. 3, 2015, — By the end of the World Championships held by American Taekwondo Association in Little Rock, Arkansas, Kathryn Tian from Los Angeles had won championships in three competitions, including the women’s 15-to-17-year-old creative martial arts competition, competition with equipment and the ultimate boxing match. So far, she has already won 17 junior world championships, and is well on her way of realizing her dream of winning Olympic gold medal representing the USA.
Kathryn Tian wearing three gold medals of world championship in Little Rock (Provided by Yi Qian)
Growing up in Boston and having studied at Cambridge Chinese School, Tian Yuqian, who is 15 year-old in this year, moved to CA with her parents by the end of 2013. Tian can speak Chinese fluently, and excels at both academics and martial arts. Her essay “Spread the Wings of the Star-Spangled Banner and the Five-Star Red Banner flying to Italy” won her a first prize award in the World-wide Chinese Essay Competition for Students.
In the national karate tournament held in Rhode Island in this April, she was also designated the appellation “The Most Valuable Player”. Though this Chinese American girl looks very young, she is experienced in all sorts of competitions. She started learning taekwondo at the age of 6, and added additional training of karate at the age of 11, showing a great talent in both athletic sports.
As the only Chinese competitor among the seven finalists, Tian stood on the highest level of the stage with a cheerful smile. for her diligence and achievement. Technically, Tian’s height, weight and other physical attributes are inferior to many of her opponents, but her diligence and fighting spirit carried her to the championships as her mother Yi Qian said.
“2011 is Kathryn’s first year to get ATA World Champion titles when she was 11 years old. All girls were good friends and still had baby face at that time! Now they are big girls!” added Ms. Qian.
At present, Tian is a 11th-grade student at Harvard Westlake School in the Los Angeles area. She has achieved perfect score: 800 in both SAT math and reading. Her score in the AP Chinese test is unsurprisingly 5. Maybe, she will soon return to Boston to attend one of the top universities in this area and fulfill her dream of becoming an Olympian.