By Neto Baptiste
A freak accident during a pre-competition race could put Antigua and Barbuda’s kite-boarder Tiger Tyson out of the Formula Kite World Championships slated to start this week.
According to his father Mike Tyson, Tiger was rushed to the hospital in Porto Torres, Italy on Monday after he collided with another athlete during a test run just one day before the scheduled start of the World Championships.
“In the emergency room but conscious and in pain. Chest is concaved,” Mike wrote via WhatsApp.
Mike said it is unlikely, given the preliminary diagnosis, that Tiger would be able to compete in the prestigious championships which starts on Tuesday, adding that “his whole year has been building up to this one week”.
Tiger is fresh off the Kite-foil World Series Open held in Cagliari, Italy over the weekend where he finished 12th from amongst 44 individual competitors. He amassed a total of 235.0 points over 17 races at the International event.
Tyson, speaking with Observer media following the Kite-foil World Series Open, said the event provided an opportunity for him to compete against a number of the top athletes from around the world going into this week’s Formula Kite World Championships.