Online karate sensation James De los Santos captured his 11th gold medal as he blanked Domont Matias Moreno of Switzerland, 5-0, in the final round of the Tokaido Maribor Open eTournament.
Just two days after the world No. 2 De los Santos bagged two gold medals in similar online tilts, the Filipino karateka scored another victory in convincing fashion.
“I’m very happy winning my 11th virtual gold medal,” said De los Santos. “It brings me a lot closer to the world No. 1 spot. There are many more tournaments to come, and I have to work a lot harder.”
On his way to the final round, De los Santos – a former member of the karatedo national team – edged Datius Duhan of Slovakia 5-0 in the quarterfinal, and Bolivia’s Angel Sanchez 4-1 in the semifinal.
Aside from the SportData eTournament World Series title last Sunday where he triumphed against world No. 1 Eduardo Garcia of Portugal, De los Santos, 30, also claimed the gold medal in the Hatamoto Kai Mitad Del Mundo E-Tournament.
His other championships were from the E-Champions Trophy World Series, Miyamoto Musashi Five Rings event and the 2nd Dutch Open E-Tournament early this month.
Read: https://mb.com.ph/2020/09/07/karateka-james-de-los-santos-on-a-roll-bags-2-more-online-gold-medals/
De los Santos also won the e-Karate Games 2020 and the Athletes E-Tournament last August, the Balkan Open eTournament in July, the Korokotta Cup last June and the Palestine International Karate Cup last April.
However, what made the day extra special for De los Santos were the achievements of fellow MKKPI club members Fatima A-Isha Hamsain, who won the gold in U-15 Maribor Open, and Julia Ian Marcos, who settled with a bronze in the U-21 Austrian Junior Open.
“It made me a lot happier when there were two young students from MKKPI that gave virtual kata a try, and they ended up winning a gold and a bronze. It’s their first time trying virtual kata,” said De Los Santos, who uses the MKKPI club as his dojo for the virtual tournaments.
“They got good results. I encouraged them to compete (in more tournaments) so that they make use of their training. Competition is also vital to becoming a stronger athlete,” added De los Santos, who also represents the country’s International Shotokan Federation.