Tsukii kicks way to Serbian meet gold

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino-Japanese Junna Tsukii continued to make significant strides in her quest for a Tokyo Olympic berth as she topped the Golden Belt Karate tournament in Cacak, Serbia.

“I’m very happy to be able to fight with the top players in this time,” said the 30-year-old Tsukii on her Facebook page. “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Serbian Karate Federation and to Roksanda sensei for giving us such a wonderful opportunity.

“Let’s move on to take advantage of this experience,” she added.

The Asian Games bronze medalist and Southeast Asian Games gold medal winner is one of the country’s best bets to qualify for the Tokyo Games set July 23 to Aug. 8.

Tsukii also competed in the Premier League in Istanbul, Turkey a few days ago but missed the medal round.

But she was not disheartened.

Tsukii instead worked harder and was rewarded in the Serbian meet.

The country’s other karate Olympic hopefuls, including Jamie Lim and Joan Orbon, are in a training camp over in Istanbul.

Tsukii and her teammates chase their Tokyo dream as they vie in the World Olympic qualifier in Paris, France in June.