Scotts Valley resident Andrew Tsaranou, 13, won the silver medal at the World Taekwondo President’s Cup at the Telekom Dome in Bonn, Germany on April 7.
The competition was organized by the European Taekwondo Union and saw athletes compete in different weight categories across three age divisions – 20 weight categories in cadet, 20 weight categories in junior and 16 weight categories in senior. Senior athletes are classified as 17 years and older while junior athletes are those born between 1999 and 2001 and cadet athletes are those born between 2002 and 2004.
Andrew competed in the Male Cadets 12-14 years old black belt featherweight division (90-99 lbs) and dominated his opponents with an outstanding performance. There were 25 competitors in this category.
Andrew won the preliminary match against a Canadian athlete, 7-0; the quarterfinals against a Great Britain National Team Member, 4-0; the semifinal against a German athlete, 3-0; and lost the finals against a Hungarian National Team Member, 2-3; putting him in second place in his category overall.
“At first I was disappointed more that anything else because I allowed my opponent with only16 seconds left to score by grazing my face mask. I was mad at myself that I let him back into the game,” said Andrew. “But later, after that fight when I cooled down, I realized how far I’ve come with the help from my family, coach, teammates and friends.”
His hard work at San Jose-based Taema Taekwondo Club under the guidance of Master Andrew Suh paid off at the World Taekwando President’s Cup. Andrew set a new personal record for allowing only one valid kick score on him throughout the entire tournament match up.
Andrew is an eighth-grade student at Pacific Collegiate School and had a 3.8 GPA last semester. He loves to skateboard at Sky Park and surf in Santa Cruz.
The next big tournament for Andrew is July 4-10, 2016 at the USA National Championship in Richmond, Virginia.
