'Being No.2 or lower not enough,' says veteran e-kata campaigner
Fresh from a win, veteran online campaigner James de los Santos said that he is eyeing to become the No. 1 ranked e-kata athlete in the world as he looks forward to more tournaments this year.
Next for him is the Athlete’s E-Tournament that starts Tuesday.
“Aiming for No. 1? Yes I am aiming for that,” said the 30-year-old De los Santos in a message to Manila Bulletin.
“If you want to become the best, you can’t be contented. You have to really keep working hard. It won’t be easy of course. But being No. 2 or lower is not enough for me,” he added.
De los Santos currently has 2565.00 points in the E-Kata Male Seniors division, behind No. 2 Leonardo Birra of Italy with 2570.00. At No. 1 in the world is Portugal’s Eduardo Garcia with 5155.00.
In 13 online tournaments, De los Santos has now won three gold medals.
Aside from the Balkan Open e-Tournament, where he edged in the finals South Africa’s Silvio Cerone-Biagioni, he also dominated the Palestine International Karate Cup last April and the Korokotta Cup last June.
De los Santos also earned ranking points with silver medals in the Adidas Karate World Open Series E-Tournament last month, and SportData E-Tournament World Series last May, as well as bronze in the First Dutch Open last June.