Delos Santos continues to wreak havoc with 19th online karate gold

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino James delos Santos sustained his juggernaut in the world online karate circuit and topped the e-Champions Trophy World Series on Tuesday to hike his total to 19 gold medals.

The 30-year-old delos Santos outclassed Silvio Cerone-Biagioni of South Africa, 25.2-23.7, in sealing another tournament victory in 34 competitions since he started joining online events last March.

The recent feat by the two-time Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist, who bested Alfredo Bustamante of the United States, 24.8-24.3, in the semifinals, should further keep his foothold as World No. 1.

And it appeared like he has no plans of slowing down.

“There are 12 tournaments for this month and also for the Christmas season and I’m planning to join all that, which means I will not be having a holiday break,” said delos Santos.

In the finals, Delos Santos said he did everything for 30 minutes because the mall they are going to use as venue decided to close early as preventive measure against Tropical Storm Rolly.

“We basically had around 30 minutes to finish everything. Because of the possibility of a brown out due to the typhoon, we rushed back home and upload our videos,” said delos Santos.

“Even with the circumstances, I was able to win the finals and bring home my 19th gold,” he added.