KARATEKAS Junna Tsukii and Jamie Christine Lim were in top form yesterday, reaching the kumite (sparring) finals of the women’s minus 50kg and minus 61kg divisions of the 17th Asian Senior Karate Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Both gold medal winners in the Southeast Asian Games champions in 2019, Tsukii and Lim showed poise and determination to dispatch their semifinal foes with close victories to mark a big day for the national team in the continental showcase that drew 400 athletes from 23 Asian countries.
A two-time gold medalist of the World Karate Federation Premier League, Tsukii eked out a 3-2 decision over Hawraa Al Ajmi of the United Arab Emirates while Lim nipped Jordan’s Joud Adrous 1-0 in her own semis match, and advanced to the championship matches today.
Between them, Tsukii will face a tough opponent in Kazakhstan’s Moldir Zhangbyrbay, a two-time Asian champion, who subdued Iran’s Sara Bahmanyar 7-5 in the other semifinal match; while Lim will tackle the UAE’s Sarah Alame, who whipped Malaysia’s Mathivani Murageesan 9-2.
“I believe this is the first time we have had in the history of the Asian tournament that we will have two karatekas fighting for the gold,” noted karate chief Ricky Lim, who was pleased at how both tournament rookies are performing so far in the trip supported by the Philippine Sports Commission.
Earlier, the national squad added a third bronze medal to its collection through Lemon Misu in the women’s kumite under-21 61kg. class. Misu beat Hong Kong’s Hei Wood Chow 3-0 in the repechage round.
