Online karate sensation James De los Santos moved to the gold medal round following two impressive wins in the first two stages of the e-Karate Games 2020 Monday.
The 30-year-old De los Santos edged Jamie Parfitt of the United Kingdom 25.1-20.4 and Tani Hossein of Iran 25.5-24.3 to earn the right to face Slovenia’s Nejc Sternisa in the final.
Sternisa defeated Murilo Alvez of Brazil 23.6-23.3 in the quarterfinals and Kevin Petry of Luxembourg 24.3-23 in the semifinals of the virtual tournament.
Already a four-time gold medalist in online karate tournaments, De los Santos is motivated to emerge victorious anew in hopes of boosting his bid to become the top-ranked athlete in virtual kata category.
“It feels great being in a finals again,” said De los Santos, currently ranked No. 2.
“My journey to the No. 1 spot in the virtual kata world rankings won’t stop. This motivates me to work a lot harde,” he added.
De los Santos ruled the Athletes E-Tournament last month, Balkan Open eTournament in July, the Korokotta Cup in June and the Palestine International Karate Cup last April.