Filipino karateka veteran James De los Santos has advanced to the final round following his semifinal victory against Angel Sanchez of Bolivia in the Athletes E-Tournament Monday.
The 30-year-old De los Santos received a score of 24.6 points from the judges while Sanchez was given 24.5 points.
The win gave De los Santos a chance not just to claim his fourth gold in online competition but to avenge his two finals setbacks to nemesis Eduardo Garcia of Portugal, who won a controversial finals match last month.
“This will be my third time facing him, and it’s always in the finals match,” De los Santos told Manila Bulletin.
“I faced him in the SportData E-Tournament World Series last May, and in the Adidas Karate World Open Series last month – where the controversial scoring happened,” he added.
After he earned a bye in the round of 16, De los Santos defeated Alfredo Bustamante in the quarterfinals 24.8-24, and Sanchez in the semifinals.
For his part, Garcia edged Amund Hillestad of Norway 23.6-24.8 in the round of 16, Taylor Scott of Canada 24.7-22.1 in the quarterfinals, and Matias Moreno Domont of Switzerland 25.1-24 in the semifinals.
The final round is set today as De los Santos and Garcia will have to submit their video performance for the judges to score.
De los Santos said he was informed that an error in one of the judges scoring was the reason.
His last title propelled De los Santos to No. 2 in the world ranking for e-kata with 3270.00 points, behind No. 1 Garcia with 5995.00 points. Italy’s Leonardo Birra slid to No. 3 with 2735.00 points.