World No. 1 e-kata player James De los Santos returned to competition via the SportData eTournament World Series 1, his first tournament this year after more than a month of rest.
“I’ve already recorded my videos because the deadline is January 29 (Friday),” said De los Santos.
“It's a new year, and I'm really looking forward to these virtual tournaments.”
The event is the biggest in online competitions since it more than triples the awarded points to the medal winners. In four of the five events that De los Santos joined in the SportData, he won the gold twice.
De los Santos, a former national team member, did not join the first leg of the tournament back January of last year since as he only started competing in online events in April.
When he first joined the SportsData, he took the silver medal.
De los Santos, a two-time bronze medalist in the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games, finished his 2020 campaign in e-kata tournament as the No. 1 ranked player after he accumulated 18,020 points.
Next to him are Matias Moreno Domont of Switzerland (9,495) and former No. 1 Eduardo Garcia of Portugal (8,890), whom he expects to bounce back this year to regain the top spot together with the other old and new participants.
“I know that there will be new players joining in, and I'll keep my guard up. I still want to maintain my world No. 1 ranking.
In the Top 10 are Silvio Cerone-Biogioni of South Africa (8,040), USA’s Alfredo Bustamante (7,240), Nejc Sternisa of Slovenia (5,315), Brazil’s Murilo Alves (3,520), Hugh Connolly of Ireland (3,405), Abdellatif Choukri of Morocco (3,205) and Bolivia’s Angel Sanchez (3,075).