For the second time in a month, world No. 1 e-kata fighter James De los Santos recorded another single day haul of three gold medals as he ruled three karate online tournaments.
Results from three finals came out Monday night as De los Santos won the third edition of the Athletes E-Tournament, the third leg of the Okinawa E-Tournament World Series, and the 3rd Dutch Open E-Tournament.
The three wins improved his gold medal haul to 33 with a couple more before year 2020 ends.
“Not once, but twice,” said De los Santos, referring to his earlier triple gold in a single day early this month. “To score another hat trick, by winning my 31st, 32nd, and 33rd gold medal, is another personal record and achievement before this year ends.”
“But it's not over yet for me. I still have around three tournaments left to finish before I exit the year 2020 with a bang. I'm just hoping for the best (to stay No. 1),” he added.
The 30-year-old De los Santos defeated Alfredo Bustamante of the US in the final round of the Athletes E-Tournament 25.66-25.06 that gave him his third title in the said competition.
In the Okinawa World Series, De los Santos downed Matias Moreno-Domont of Switzerland 25.34-24.48, and downed Silvio Cerone-Biagioni of South Africa 24.4-23.8 in the Dutch Open.
Last December 7, De los Santos won three gold medals in a day after he ruled the Rome International ENDAS Karate Cup, captured his second Euro Grand Prix, and capped the day by taking his third straight E-Karate Games.
De Los Santos, a former national team member, currently has 13,745 points in the current ranking of the e-tournament for male senior’s category of the World Karate Federation (WKF).
At second is Eduardo Garcia with 8,890 points, the athlete from Portugal who was on top from April to early October until De los Santos took over and has remained as the No. 1 ranked in e-kata – something the later hopes to maintain until the end of the year.
At third is Domont with 6,990, followed by Cerone-Biogioni (6,225) and Nejc Sternisa of Slovenia (4,895), Bustamante (4,495), Hugh Connolly of Ireland (3,405), Murilo Alves of Brazil (3,385), Angel Sanchez of Bolivia (3,075) and Leonardo Birra of Italy (2,960).