ALTHOUGH they did not see action in the recent international competition held in Manila due to their respective studies and training overseas, karatekas Jamie Christine Lim and Joko Vasquez are committed to see action in the 32nd Cambodia Southeast Asian Games in May, according to karate chief Richard Lim.
“Both Jamie and Joko are studying and training in England and Canada, respectively, but both will compete in the Cambodia SEA Games,” Lim said of the two athletes he considers as top gold medal prospects in the regional meet.
Lim, who made a golden debut in the 2019 Philippine SEA Games by topping the women’s -61kg division, is currently taking up her Masters’ degree in England while Vasquez is studying at a university in Toronto, Canada.
Vasquez, a bronze medalist in the men’s individual kata (forms) in the Vietnam Games last year, recently ruled the senior elite kata competition organized by the Ontario Karate Federation, beating Canadian national champ Alif Donato, Lim said.
“With this strong accomplishment by Joko, we expect him to step up and be one of our top gold medal bets in Cambodia,” said the karate honcho, who is keen on redemption after the national karatekas failed to win a gold in Vietnam.
“Our team is determined to exceed our two gold, one silver and nine bronze medals in the 2019 after we only won eight bronze medals in Vietnam last year,” he said.
Lim said that World Games gold medalist Junna Tsukii and women’s kata exponent Sakura Alforte are also tipped to do well in the Cambodia karate meet set May 6 to 8 in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh.
Tsukii ruled the women’s 50kg division while Alforte bagged the women’s kata and under-21 gold medals in the 10th Southeast Asian Karate Federation Championships last month at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Turkish coach Levent Aydemir, who now handles the national karate squad, said he liked the performance of the local karatekas in the SEAKF tournament but also saw room for improvement before they compete in Cambodia.
“We saw the weak side and the good side of our national team. We will review our program and continue our training for the SEA Games “ said Aydemir, who used to handle the Turkish national squad, which is considered a European karate powerhouse.
He added that to fine-tune the athletes, “we will have a three-week intensive training camp in Turkey and will organize some sparring with the Turkish national athletes, return to Manila before proceeding in Cambodia.”
Aydemir, who also coached the Brazilian squad that competed in the Tokyo Olympics, declined to make any predictions about the national team’s prospects in Cambodia, saying: “If our athletes follow our program and give their best performance, the results will come.”
