Tokyo Olympic aspirant Tsukii tops karate tourney in Serbia

MANILA, Philippines – Filipino-Japanese karateka Junna Tsukii showed her readiness to compete for a slot in next year’s Tokyo Olympics after ruling a tournament in Arandelovac, Serbia over the weekend.

The 29-year-old Tsukii caught a big fish in World No. 6 Valeria Kumizaki of Brazil with a 1-1 victory in the finals in claiming the mint in the -55 kilogram weight class.

The feat was more impressive because Tsukii’s more comfortable division is the -50kg where she is currently ranked No. 10 in the world and where she strike gold in the Southeast Asian Games in Pampanga in December last year.

Tsukii’s Southeast Asian Games gold medal was one of two won by the host country in the sport with the other one won by another Olympic hopeful Jamie Lim, daughter of PBA legend Samboy Lim.

Tsukii left Japan late October to fly to Serbia where she was given an invitation to train with some of the best karatekas in the world, including local hero and 2018 -61kg world champion Jovana Prekovic.

Interestingly, the event she topped applied the same format that would be used in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament next year — a round-robin system where the competitor with the most points moving to the next round.

Also eyeing Tokyo berths are Joane Orbon, Sharief Afif, Ivan Agustin and Awyn Batican, who will also join Tsukii and Lim in the Paris OQT.