MANILA, Philippines — Two-time SEA Games karate gold medalist Jamie Lim said yesterday it’ll be a tough struggle to land a podium finish in the Hangzhou Asian Games but her focus is to do her best, no matter what, in trying to make history in her Asiad debut. Lim, 26, joins three women and three men in the Philippine delegation competing in karate on Oct. 5-8. The Philippines has never won a karate gold in the Asian Games and the highest placing was second by Marne Pabilore in -53kg kumite in 2006.
The kumite squad is made up of Lim (61kg), Junna Tsukii (-50kg) and Arianne Brito (+68kg) for women and John Lachica (-60kg), John Manantan (-67kg) and Alwyn Batican (-75kg) for men. Sakura Alforte will vie for honors in women’s individual kata. Accompanying the team are Karate Pilipinas Sports Federation president/team manager Ricky Lim, kumite coach Levent Aydemir, kata coach Rhodee Saavedra and referee Juan Carlos Veguillas.
“It’s my first Asian Games and I know the competition is super tough,” said PBA legend Samboy Lim’s daughter. “This isn’t the SEA Games, it’s the Asian Games. Pity that karate won’t be in the Paris Olympics after Tokyo. Paris chose new sports like breakdancing instead. I don’t know about the 2028 LA Olympics. I’m hoping the US brings back karate. I’ll be 31 by then and I’m not sure if I’ll still be competing. I’m also not sure if I’ll try for a third SEA Games gold medal in 2025.”
After the Asian Games, Lim will compete at the World Championships in Budapest on Oct. 24-29. Then, she plans to battle at the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games in Bangkok on Feb. 24-March 6. Beyond that, it’s a question mark for Lim who said it may be time to start a career where she can apply her learnings from her Master’s degree in Business Analytics at Imperial College in London. The karate team trained for six weeks in Turkey before flying home last Sunday. The delegation departs for Hangzhou on Monday. At the previous Asian Games, the Philippines was represented by six karatekas. Only Tsukii, who took a bronze in -50kg kumite, was held over from the 2018 edition in Indonesia.