Inspired De los Santos strikes 30th online karate gold
CEBU, Philippines — While all eyes are on the Filipino athletes competing in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Cebuano World No.1 e-karateka Orencio James “OJ” De los Santos is silently working his way to make a little bit of noise in the Philippine sports scene, albeit in a virtual setting.
De los Santos captured his 30th gold of the year after dominating the Okinawa E-Tournament World Series #4 yesterday.
The two-time Southeast Asian (SEA) Games bronze medalist defeated Alfredo Bustamante of the United States in the final via a razor-thin 24.94-24.74 decision.
The 30-year-old De los Santos admitted that he got added motivation from his countrymen seeing action at the Tokyo Games in dishing out another golden performance.
“After watching our proud Filipino athletes compete in the Olympic Games, I’m a lot more inspired,” said De los Santos, an outstanding alumnus of PAREF-Springdale and La Salle awardee for sports excellence. “Let’s continue to support them until the end! God willing, more Olympic golds to come!”
In 2020, De los Santos minted a total of 36 gilts to emerge as the world’s highest ranked online karateka.
He’s now seven golds away from hitting his goal of surpassing his last year’s mark. — EBV
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