DUE to changes in COVID-19 quarantine conditions in France, majority of the country’s Olympic karate hopefuls will leave their training camp in Istanbul, Turkey earlier than scheduled so they could see action in the world Olympic karate qualifying tournament set June 11 to 13 at the Accor Hotel Arena Sports Hall in Paris.
Karate chief Ricky Lim, who has been staying with the national team in Istanbul, said France has imposed stricter health and safety protocols, including a 10-day quarantine from travelers arriving from countries with high cases of the lethal novel corona virus, Turkey among them.
The karate bets were originally scheduled to leave for June 6 but the new guidelines prompted them to make an abrupt change in their travel plans, leaving today instead, according to the Karate Pilipinas Sports Foundation, Inc. president.
Traveling to the French capital together with Lim are karatekas led by 30th Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Jaimie Christine Lim, Joane Orbon, Ivan Agustin, Sharief Afif and Jason Macaalay, together with national coach Okay Arpa of Turkey.
Lim said that Filipino-Japanese Junna Tsukii, who is training in Serbia, has cancelled her plans to join her national teammates in Turkey and will fly to the French capital directly on Sunday.
