PUNCHING ABOVE HIS WEIGHT
HE may be small, but Aikan Granier-Ameur is achieving his biggest dreams.
The Upper Coomera 12year-old has just been selected for the Australian National Taekwondo team, bringing dreams of competing in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris a step closer.
Aikan will be one of the smallest competitors – he weighs less than 33kg – who will travel to Uzbekistan in August to compete at the World Cadet Championship.
“I train more than 10 hours a week, six days a week,” he said. “It was my dream to be qualified this year in worlds and I did it.
“I have my eyes set on the Olympics.”
His biggest fan is mum Charlotte Granier who drives him 45 minutes to Brisbane every day to take him to One Taekwondo.
“I’m so proud of him and everything he’s achieving,” she said. “He does so much and works so hard. On top of training he teaches classes, including adults, one day a week.”
The Upper Coomera State College student started taekwondo at age three and is a two-time national champion in sparring. He has also won a national title in poomsae.
The international trip is expected to cost his family up to $4000 and Aikan plans to fundraise money by door-todoor knocking and accepting donations on his GoFundMe page: https:// www.gofundme.com/worldcadet-taekwondochampionships.