Delos Santos justifies World No. 1 ranking with record 17th gold

MANILA, Philippines – World No. 1 Filipino karateka James delos Santos came through with a historic performance in capturing his 17th gold medal in the Katana Inter-Continental Karate League e-Tournament Monday night.

The 30-year-old delos Santos, who is coming off a triumphant performance in the Golden League a week ago, scored 26.1 in besting Costa Rican Juan Achio, who had a 25.1, and adding another mint to his growing list.

The two-time Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist’s score was the highest by anyone since online competitions started last March.

“This is special for me because I did not only took my 17th gold, I won it as the first eKata player to ever score 26,” said delos Santos.

The effort should keep delos Santos’ stranglehold of the top ranking while putting a little distance between himself and former No. 1 Eduardo Garcia of Portugal.

“Time to raise the bar even higher,” said delos Santos.

Delos Santos bested Abdellatif Choukri of Morocco, 24.9-23.7, and then Nejc Sternisa of Slovenia, 25.1-24.1, to forge a duel with Achio, who pulled the rug from under Garcia via the closest of margins, 24.8-24.7.