16-year-old Hempfield-area student earns Team USA nod after winning national championships, team trials at USA Kickboxing event
HEMPFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KDKA) - A kickboxer from the Hempfield area has earned the right to represent Team USA at the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations Junior World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, this fall.
Riley Evans, a Westmoreland Christian Academy student, earned a spot on the U.S. Kickboxing Team by winning the National Championships and Team Trials last month.
Evans will make her international WAKO debut in August after winning the -50kg Junior National Title and gold medal, according to a media release given on Monday.
Evans' coach, Bill Viola Jr., was recently appointed Chairman and Director of Tatami Sports in the United States.
"This was our most competitive and largest nationals to date. We are confident in our junior athletes headed to Budapest in August and our senior athletes competing in Chile [Vina del Mar] in October. Tatami champions from Chile will earn a slot in the prestigious World Games in Chengdu, China [in August 2025]," Viola said.
Evans and other athletes are also preparing to compete in Portugal in October.
"This is a 365-days-of-the-year type of sport. There is no off-season, no breaks. We train six days a week and sacrifice a lot to travel and represent Pittsburgh and America abroad on the largest platform for kickboxing and sport karate. We hope Pittsburgh corporations will get behind these kids to help and sponsor them toward Gold. These are honor students, role models, and the type of respectful examples we need."
USA Kickboxing is the only U.S.-based kickboxing organization to have International Olympic Committee and American Olympic Committee recognition.
"I always get asked, what does this all mean? The answer is simple, we inch one step closer to an Olympic debut," Viola said.