GIVEN her reputation as top-ranked kata athlete in the world, Sakura Alforte won’t be able to defend the women’s individual title she won in the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games after Thailand dropped the event in the 33rd edition of the SEA Games it will host in December.
“The Thai organizers took out Sakura’s event from the SEA Games calendar since alam nilang malakas siya. We can’t do nothing about it since they are the hosts,” said karate chief Ricky Lim in a recent interview about the move that left the world No. 12 Filipino-Japanese athlete unable to defend her kata crown.
She was one of the country’s two gold medalists in the sport in the previous regional meet held two years ago in the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, the other coming from Jaimie Christine Lim, who ruled the women’s -61-kilogram division in kumite (sparring).
The team event in men’s and women’s kata will be staged in the discipline in the Thai province of Songkhla, 968 kilometers from the Thai capital of Bangkok, according to Lim, the president of the Karate Pilipinas Sports Federation, Inc.
Lim, however, said that Alforte will still be retained as a member of the national women’s kata team composed of three athletes, and will likely be partnering with the current members of the squad.
A total of 15 golds are up for grabs in karate, seven and six, respectively, in the men’s and women’s kumite competitions.
