Junna Tsukii and Jamie Lim tried their best, but simply could not get the judges to see things in their favor. Instead, both settled for silver medals in the 17th Asian Karate Championships, Wednesday at the Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Competing in the senior kumite female -50 kg category, Tsukii found herself in a high-octane, action-packed finals encounter against hometown bet Moldir Zhangbyrbay of Kazakhstan.
Tsukii, fourth in the world rankings, had already beaten Zhangbyrbay last May in the Karate Premier League in Portugal where the Filipina-Japanese emerged champion. This time around, world no. 6 Zhangbyrbay made sure not to disappoint in her own backyard as she won 9-5 over Tsukii.
It was a disappointing ending for Tsukii who was in superb form the entire tournament. She easily disposed of Young Jung Ji of South Korea in the opening round, 4-1. Tsukii followed it up by blanking world no. 29 Yee Ting Tsang of Hongkong in the quarterfinals, 9-0, before prevailing in the semifinals against Hawraa Al Ajmi of the United Arab Emirates.
Zhangbyrbay was just as impressive as en route to the finals, she defeated world no. 17 Shiau-Shuang Gu of Chinese Taipei, Khamsi Tippwan of Thailand, and world no. 6 Sara Bahmanyar of Iran.
Lim, who has risen to 58th in the world rankings after she came within a win of a bronze medal in the world championship last November, fell behind early and rallied but bowed to Sarah Al Ameri of the United Arab Emirates in the finals of the senior kumite female -61 kg category
Lim had been a picture of grit in the competition as she eked out pulsating victories over Chih-Ling Ku of Chinese Taipei (5-4), Kymbat Toitonova of Kyrgyzstan (1-0), and Joud Aldrous of Jordan (1-0). She, however, found Al Ameri, who upset world no. 7 Rozita Alipourkeshka of Iran in the quarterfinals, a tougher nut to crack as Al Ameri came out victorious against Lim, 2-1.
Despite not copping any gold medals, the Philippines will still be going home with one of its best performances in the Asian Championships. Aside from the silver medals earned by Tsukii and Lim, the Philippines also will be proudly showing off 4 bronze medals courtesy of John Enrico Vasquez (Under 21 male kata), Lemon Misu (Under 21 female kumite -61 kg), and double bronze medalist Sakura Alforte (Women’s individual kata and Under 21 female kata).
The last time and only time the Philippines has won a gold medal in the Asian Championship was in 1995 when David Lay, Jr. was crowned champion of the men’s kumite -65 kg category.
