4 events line up for World No. 2 e-kata player
After winning a fourth gold medal, online karate sensation James De Los Santos is scheduled to join four more tournaments this August, making it his busiest month so far.
Fresh from victory in the Athletes E-Tournament where he stunned world No. 1 Eduardo Garcia of Portugal in the final last week, De Los Santos will start his bid in the Adidas Karate World Open Thursday.
Following the said event, he has lined up three more -- the Shureido World League and the International Best Fighter Karate Cup this week, and the E-Karate Games on August 24.
“Yes, busy month,” De Los Santos told the Manila Bulletin.
“There are other tournaments this month too, but I’m deciding if I should also join – the dates are close to each other. I’m also thinking if I join the other three, it’ll boost my ranking and better my chances of landing No. 1."
At the moment, the 30-year-old De Los Santos is at No. 2 in the e-kata world ranking behind Garcia.
The three other tournaments that De Los Santos is contemplating on joining are the 2nd Dutch Open E-Tournament on the 28th, the E-Champions Trophy World Series #1 by the end of the month, and the Miyamoto Musashi E-Tournament on September 1.
The Adidas event is the third time for De Los Santos after he finished fifth in the first leg and second overall when he settled for a controversial silver medal against Garcia.
De Los Santos used that as motivation when he met Garcia again in the final of the Athletes E-Tournament as he received a total score of 25 points from the judges as compared to Garcia’s 24.9 points.
The win gave De Los Santos his fourth gold after he ruled the Balkan Open eTournament last month, Korokotta Cup last June and the Palestine International Karate Cup last April.