Sweet redemption for OJ

CEBU, Philippines — After three attempts, multi-titled Cebuano karateka Orencio James “OJ” de los Santos finally got the better of world No.1 Eduardo Garcia of Portugal.

This time, without any complications.

De los Santos, currently No.2 in the e-kata world rankings, continued his hot charge to the top after he bested Garcia with a flawless execution of his nearly three-minute Unsu routine to grab gold medal in the Athlete’s E-Tournament organized by Russia.

The country’s top karateka was the only Asian out of 10 entries in the tough individual male seniors category. 

De los Santos, representing the Philippines under the banner of the International Shotokan Karate Federation, edged Garcia by the thinnest of margins, 25.0-24.9.

It was sweet redemption for De los Santos, who was initially declared the winner against Garcia during their second finals encounter in the Adidas Karate World Open Series #2 last July 13 only to be stripped of the title afterwards due to a scoring error.

De los Santos lost to Garcia also by close 24.5-24.2 decision during their first championship meeting in the SportData E-Tournament World Series two months ago.

“This is the third time I’ve faced Portugal (Eduardo Garcia) in a final showdown. My first two times were unlucky. I have to admit, he’s a tough player to beat,” said De los Santos. “But when the third time came around, my kata coach from Japan, Masa Saito, and my parents suggested I use my favorite kata, Unsu. It finally paid off.”

 “Coach Masa and his father sensei Kazuo Saito have told me that my kata performance has been improving after every tournament I joined. That goes to show that aside from proper training, you need competition,” he added.

The 30-year-old De los Santos admitted that the controversial outcome of their previous match-up drove him to perform better and stronger with a higher goal in mind this time.

“Because of that controversial scoring in our second final meeting at the Adidas World Open, that’s what motivated me to train a lot harder when the third meeting comes around,” said De los Santos.

With his most latest success, De los Santos is expected to close the gap that separates him and Garcia in the world ratings. The two-time Southeast Asian (SEA) Games bronze medallist jumped to No.2 after topping the Balkan Open last August 3.

 “This victory means a lot. This will motivate me to train harder for the upcoming virtual tournaments,” said De los Santos, who now has four golds spiced with a silver and a bronze in 13 tournaments he joined over the past four months since the sports lockdown because of the pandemic.