Max Hatzoglou
Talented young skateboarder Zion Moltocuro-Furegato is hoping to compete in this year’s Australian Skateboarding Championship like he did as a six-year old in 2019, although he requires approval of his father’s visa before the event begins on March 12.
In 2019, Zion and his family had to make a quick return to Brazil from their St Albans home after his grandmother had a health scare from an accident and grandfather was diagnosed with cancer.
Now, Zion and his father Ricardo Furegato are hoping to reunite and accommodate with friends they made in Melbourne’s west when they lived in the area for over ten years from 2009 to 2019 to enable Zion to compete.
The return would give Zion the chance to showcase his incredible skateboarding talents, which has led to over 11,000 Instagram followers, to the national skateboarding audience in Melbourne.
However, due to the costs of return flights nearing $8,000 and struggles with getting his father’s visa approved, the pair may not be able to make the trip happen.
This is when Zion’s parents Carla Moltocuro and Ricardo Furegato decided to start a Go Fund Me page which has since raised over $2,400 in Australia and $3,500 in Brazil.
The biggest obstacle for the family now is having the visa application approved for his father.
“We are just waiting for my visa actually, his (Zion’s) visa has already been approved,” Zion’s father Ricardo said.
“We are just anxious for my visa.
“We are worried about getting the visa too late, after the competition and that would be really sad.
“We are trying to do everything we can by writing letters to immigration to give a little bit of attention to my application and see if we can get the visa before the competition.
As mentioned earlier Zion has attracted over 11,000 followers on Instagram at just nine years of age.
Ricardo said he hopes that Zion could have the opportunity to showcase his talents.
“People love him, he is very charismatic,” Ricardo said.
“For him, he has this opportunity so why wouldn’t we make it happen.
“He has a lot of potential,
“We just believe so much in his talent and people as well donated so much money for him to make this real.”
Ricardo also mentioned that people noticed him on the streets in Brazil.
“Even today we were in our local park and a kid came from another city which is three, four hours away from here and he was screaming Zion’s name and he was so happy meeting him.
“There are a few pros that really know him from his talents as well.
Zion said if he was to come to Australia he would be excited to skate in the competition, see his friends again and have a good time while chasing his dream of being a professional skater.
