Junna Tsukii is World Games champion.
The Fil-Japanese multi-medalled karate stalwart bagged the gold after winning over Venezuela’s Yorgelis Salazar, 2-0, in the gold medal match of the women’s under-50 kg kumite, Saturday morning (Philippine time) at the Bill Battle Coliseum in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
This is the first-ever gold in the quadrennial meet in karate for the Philippines.
“Today, I was not fighting just for me, I was fighting for the new generations of the Philippines, who hopefully can outgrow this success and achieve even greater success themselves,” the Filipino-Japanese standout shared thru the World Karate Federation.
The result was payback for Tsukii as the two earlier met in the pool rounds where the Venezuelan came out with an 8-1 victory to start an eventual sweep of the group.
Tsukii, though, went on to qualify in second place with Salazar in the semifinals after a win over Germany’s Shara Hubrich, 6-4, and a senshu loss to Spain’s Morales Ozuna Gema, 3-3. Tsukii, Hubrich, and Gema are all tied at 1-2 win-loss records, but the Filipino advanced on points.
The 30-year-old two-time Karate1 champion edged out Japan’s Miho Miyahara in the semifinal, 4-3, to book her place in the championship match.
The gold puts the Philippines on the board tied for 10th place along with Belgium and Algeria. Colombia leads the pack with four golds, one silver, and three bronzes, coming from roller track speed skating and finswimming.
The World Games will continue up to July 17 with nine more athletes competing for Team Pilipinas, including reigning World Games pool champion Carlo Biado.
