CEBU, Philippines — Cebuano world No.1 e-karateka James de los Santos pocketed his second gold medal of the year after topping the 1st Inner Strength Martial Arts International eTournament.
After getting past George Philips of the United Kingdom, 25-22.4, and Matias Moreno Domont of Switzerland, 24.7-24, the 30-year-old De los Santos outclassed Nejc Sternisa of Slovenia in the final, 25.4-24.6.
What makes the two-time Southeast Asian (SEA) Games bronze medalist more prouder is that her student Fatima A-Isha Lim Hamsain dared to challenge older competitors in women’s kata and ended up with golden performances in the Under 16 and Under 18 categories.
Hamsain edged Jelizaveta Vasiljeva of Latvia, 24.1-23.8, in the U16 and Marie Zinecker of Germany, 24-23.5, in the U18 age group.
“I’m very proud of her (Hamsain) Progress. This will further boost our standing in the eKata world rankings,” said De los Santos.”I’m also excited that this tournament will be giving out actual medals. I can’t wait!”
More determined than ever, De los Santos aims to replicate his amazing feat last year where he emerged as the world’s highest ranked online karateka with a total of 18,020 rankings points he collected from his massive haul of 36 international gold medals. — EBV