Former national team member James De los Santos kept the streak going as he captured two gold medals – his seventh and eighth – in two online meets after results came out Monday.
De los Santos claimed his seventh gold medal in the Miyamoto Musashi Five Rings event, while his eighth gold came with a triumphant bid in the 2nd Dutch Open E-Tournament.
The 30-year-old De los Santos defeated Murilo Alves of Brazil 25.3-24.5 in the Miyamoto Musashi Five Rings final meet and won against Alfredo Bustamante of the USA 25.4-24.7 in the final of the 2nd Dutch Open E-Tournament.
“It’s amazing that I was able to make a gold sweep,” said De los Santos, the No. 2 ranked player in the world e-kata, who won his sixth gold medal last Sunday after his victorious campaign in the E-Champions Trophy World Series.
“But there’s still more work to be done.”
“Reaching the No. 1 spot is still a long journey for me, but it’s not stopping me. There’ll be more tournaments to come, which will add points to the virtual kata world rankings.”
On his way to the final of the Miyamoto Musashi-Five Rings Tournament, he defeated Abdellah Ouchene of Morocco in the quarterfinal 25.1-22.9, and Silvio Cerone-Biagioni of South Africa in the semifinal 24.6-24.1.
In the 2nd Dutch Open E-Tournament, De los Santos eliminated Eric Tran of the United States in the Round of 16 23.8-23.6, Domont Matias Moreno of Switzerland in the quarterfinal 25.3-24.1, and Leonardo Mattei of San Marino in their semifinal match 24.6-23.5.
The online karate sensation in the country also won gold medals in the e-Karate Games 2020 last Thursday, the Athletes E-Tournament last month, the Balkan Open eTournament last July, the Korokotta Cup last June and the Palestine International Karate Cup last April.
Masa Saito, the Japanese coach of De los Santos, said that he wants his athletes to continue improving – the only way to achieve the goal to become the No. 1 player in e-kata.
“Strength is not the number of medals we earn. We don’t stop until the kata is mastered,” said Saito. “As what I see in James, he really is improving. But we still have to work hard to reach No. 1.”
With his latest victory, De los Santos (4275.00 points) is expected to get additional points for his world ranking, which currently has Eduardo Garcia of Portugal with 7075.00 points.