FILIPINO-JAPANESE karateka Junna Tsukii arrived last Tuesday night and began training with her national teammates yesterday at the Joy Nostalg Hotel at the Ortigas Center in Pasig City, according to karate chief Ricky Lim.
“Junna arrived last night (Tuesday) and will rejoin her teammates in training at the ballroom of the hotel,” Lim said of the World Games-bound athlete.
After coming down from their training bubble at the Teacher’s Camp in Baguio City early this month, the karatekas have been quartered and working out at the hotel courtesy of its owner, Lim said.
“Since the ballroom is not that big, the workout times of the kata (forms) team is different from that of the kumite (sparring) squad,” he said.
The Karate Pilipinas Sports Foundation, Inc. president expressed confidence that Tsukii and Jaimie Christine Lim, both seasoned international campaigners, would be able to keep their crowns in the 31st Vietnam Southeast Asian Games formally opening on May 12 at the My Dinh Natioal Stadium in Hanoi.
“We are looking at a repeat for Junna and Jaimie, but we are also looking at other athletes, especially in kata, who just might spring surprises,” he said.
He cited kata bets Joko Vasquez and Rebecca Cyril Torres, who made their SEA Games debut by bagging bronze medals in the 2019 Philippine edition staged at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.
“We tried out Torres in the individual kata in the Southeast Asian Karate Federation recently in Cambodia and she won a silver medal. So we shifted her from team to concentrate in the individual event,” Lim said.
Given his improved performance in international competition, Vasquez is eyeing the gold in the men’s individual kata “or else we will drop him from the squad,” he added, jokingly.
