Tsukii eyes redemption in Asian tilt

MANILA, Philippines — Junna Tsukii will try to make up for her World Karate Championships disappointment as she spearheads the country’s campaign in the Asian Championships slated Dec. 19-22 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The 30-year-old Filipino-Japanese karateka will be one of the favorites in the three-day event being ranked No. 1 in the region and No. 5 in the world in the 50-kilogram weight class.

“We’re ready but we are expecting good opponents from Iran, Kazakhstan and China,” said Tsukii during yesterday’s online Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) Hour.

Tsukii arrived in the country recently and proceeded straight to Baguio where he joined the rest of the Philippine team in training for the forthcoming Almaty competition.

The Asian Games bronze medalist and Southeast Asian Games gold-medal winner has trained her sights at a medal finish in Almaty and making up for her frustrations in the World Championships in Dubai last month where she lost to Uzbek Bakhriniso Babaeva in the second round.

Interestingly, there’s a chance she might face Babaeva in a rematch in the Asian meet.

“I just want to think positive and not dwell on the past too much,” said Tsukii.

She will be joined by World Championship revelation Jamie Lim, who made heads turn in Dubai where she made it as far as the repechage round and barely missed out on a potential bronze.