Former national team member James De los Santos aims for his 12th gold medal after he won via default against Domont Matias Moreno of Switzerland in the Venice Cup 2020 last Saturday.
Inspired by his haul of six gold medals this month, De los Santos went all out when he submitted his semifinal video entry despite receiving a report that Moreo was hurting and not in good shape.
“My opponent in the semis was Switzerland. He was feeling ill… it’s not COVID-19 which is good,” said the 30-year-old online karate sensation De los Santos, who won his 11th gold medal last week.
“I actually had the option to do a basic kata and then move straight to the championship round. But I still chose to perform a high kata. As they say in the 4th Dojo Kun (principles) of karate: Respect others.
“This is my way of paying respect to my competitors.”
On his way to the final, De los Santos, who represents the International Shotokan Karate Federation, downed Scott Taylor of Canada, 23.9-21.8, in the round of 16 and Kevin Petry of Luxembourg, 22.4-22.9, in the quarterfinal.
De los Santos will face Slovenia’s Nejc Sternisa in the championship after the latter edged Ruben Vinje Fagerland of Norway 24.4-24.2 in the other semifinal pairing of the online event.
The world No. 2 De los Santos earned his 11th gold medal with a victory against Moreno in the Tokaido Maribor Open eTournament last week.
This month, he also won the 4th SportData eTournament World Series, the Hatamoto Kai Mitad Del Mundo E-Tournament, E-Champions Trophy World Series, Miyamoto Musashi Five Rings and the 2nd Dutch Open E-Tournament.
De los Santos also ruled the e-Karate Games 2020 and the Athletes E-Tournament last month, the Balkan Open eTournament in July, the Korokotta Cup last June and the Palestine International Karate Cup last April.