This is an ultimate story of a superstar who came from BULLY GAME to MAIN GAME
British taekwondo hopeful Mahama Cho has revealed how he learned the martial art while being bullied at school because he could not speak English.
Cho was born in the Ivory Coast but came to south London aged eight — a life-changing move he says turned him into a fighter. The 27-year-old will tomorrow compete in his first heats and hopes to reach the evening final in the men’s +80kg division.
Cho, who grew up on the Stockwell Park Estate, said: “I was getting bullied a lot at school. I would get pushed around, being told, ‘You’re not from round here’, ‘You can’t even speak the language’, and stuff like that.”
“I wanted to learn taekwondo for self-defence. My dad worried I would utilise it to bully people back, but the fundamental part of taekwondo is that it teaches you how to control yourself.”
“It’s probably one of the things that’s saved me today because you can go onto the wrong path from being bullied. My neighbourhood wasn’t great.”
He said growing up without his mother, who remains in the Ivory Coast in Abidjan, also made him “a fighter”.
He truly a role model to others.
0 comments: