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De los Santos stuns Olympic hopeful for his 25th gold medal

Sports

De los Santos stuns Olympic hopeful for his 25th gold medal

By Waylon Galvez

World No. 1 James De los Santos claimed his 25th gold medal with a stunning victory over Olympic hopeful and Guinness world record holder Nagy Botond of Hungary in the final round of the 4th Katana Intercontinental League e-Tournament as results were posted Tuesday.

After beating Cornelius Johnsen of Norway in the quarterfinal and Nejc Sternisa of Slovenia in the semifinal, the 30-year-old De los Santos scored a thrilling 24.9-24.5 win against Botond in the final.

“This one means a lot,” said De los Santos.

“Aside from being the No. 1 kata player in Hungary, Nagy Botond is No. 34 in the Olympic ranking, and he also holds a Guinness world record of having the fastest roundhouse kick.”

“His ranking in the Olympics speaks really loud though… that’s why this is a big achievement for me. This again adds up to the points, and there are more events to come,” he said.

Masa Saito, the Japanese coach of De los Santos said he is happy with the way his athlete is performing.

“Big congratulations to my great friend James. Despite the pressure to win, he is fighting through it and bringing us great excitement and continuous victories. He is not only amazing in physical strength, but also great in his mentality as a kata player.”

De los Santos is coming off his 24th gold medal when he ruled the 5th Sportsdata World Series, the biggest e-kata tournament in terms of points being awarded to the medalists.

So far, De los Santos has captured six gold medals this month, since he also dominated the Golden League, the Athletes E-Tournament Cash Award Series 2, the NOX Dojo Markham City Open and the Okinawa E-Tournament World Series 2.

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