Lim loses to Dutch foe, misses podium in World Karate Championships

MANILA Philippines – The Philippines’ Jamie Lim succumbed to the Netherlands’ Lynn Snell via Senshu on Thursday and missed out on a podium finish in the World Karate Championships at the Hamdan Arena in Dubai.

The 24-year-old Lim fought Lynn to a 1-1 tie in regulation but the latter was given the win after scoring the first point to advance to the bronze medal round of the repechage bracket in the women’s -61-kilogram division.

It was a heartbreaking result for the Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, who was hoping to bring home a medal in her World Championship debut.

Lim, whose trip was bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), however, will go home with precious experience on her resume as she beat some of the world’s best karatekas in her class including Olympians.

She pulled the rug from under Russian Alana Kochieva, French Laura Sivert and Japanese Sarara Shimada before falling to reigning World Premier League champion Anita Serogina of Ukraine in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

Serogina eventually made the finals that allowed Lim to advance to the repechage group for a chance at a bronze.

But fate had a different script.

Fil-Jap Junna Tsukii, another SEA Games gold medal winner, won her first match over Sara Radicevska of Macedonia via majority division but was shown the door by Bakhriniso Babaeva of Uzbekistan in a heartbreaking 3-2 setback.

It will now be up to John Enrico Vasquez and Sarah Pangilinan to carry the fight as the two were competing in the male and female individual kata events at press time.