PHNOM PENH – Twenty-year-old Sakura Alforte came in like a breath of fresh air for a Philippine karate team picking up the pieces from a gold medal shutout in the last Southeast Asian Games.
Alforte, a Tokyo-based Fil-Japanese who’s in her maiden SEAG appearance, reigned supreme in the women’s individual kata to give the Pinoy karatekas the winning feeling they haven’t had since hauling two golds in 2019 at home.
“I’m very proud to be able to reclaim a gold medal and take revenge on last year’s frustrations,” Alforte told The STAR.
The Philippine karatekas went home with eight bronzes in the Vietnam edition in 2022 after a 2-1-9 harvest in the Philippines.
Alforte, who studies at Waseda University, the same school attended by Fil-Japanese Olympian judoka Kiyomi Watanabe, earned 40.8 points for her near-flawless execution to dethrone last year’s winner Phuong Nguyen (40.2) of Vietnam.
“I wouldn’t say I’m confident for the gold but I’m confident for myself that I could deliver (the routine),” said the new champ, who created momentum for this bid with her triumph in the Karate 1 Youth League A in Spain last April.
Alforte’s opening triumph somehow cushioned the impact of Junna Tsukii’s frustrating loss in the final of the women’s -50kg kumite hours later.
Tsukii vehemently disagreed with the judges’ decision to award Malaysia’s Shahmalarani Chandran the win after a 1-1 tie, saying she was the aggressive fighter throughout.
“I’m so sad and so mad because I sacrificed a lot to prepare for this moment,” she said. “I give everything and for that I’m still proud of what I did.