CEBU, Philippines — Decorated karateka James De Los Santos is the latest Cebuano athlete to shine in an online sports tournament during these lockdown days due to the coronavirus pandemic.
De los Santos, who missed a spot for the Philippine team in last year's 30th Southeast Asian (SEA) Games in a controversial manner, basked in the glow of a golden finish in kata event of the E-Tournament Korocotta Cup 2020 the other day.
De Los Santos bagged the gold after shutting down South Africa’s Silvio Cerone-Biagioni, 5-0.
The veteran kata artist opened his bid with a 4-1 victory over Brazil’s Murilo Alvez in the round of 16. He subdued Stefano Biagini of South Africa, 4-1, in the quarterfinals before edging Angel Sangchez of Bolivia in the semis.
It was De Los Santos’ third virtual victory. The first was during the Palestine International Karate Cup last March in which he also clinched gold.
De Los Santos then came up with a silver medal via the Sportdata e-Tournament World Series. He missed the gold by just a 0.3 point difference against Portugal’s Eduardo Garcia. He scored 24.2 as against Garcia's 24.5.
His sterling performances has placed De Los Santos at no.4 in the virtual kata world rankings.