Under pressure, De los Santos bags 19th gold

CEBU, Philippines — Despite competing under pressure, there's no stopping Orencio James de los Santos from pocketing another gold medal to solidify his hold of the No.1 spot in the e-kata world rankings.

The 30-year-old Cebuano karateka outperformed Silvio Cerone-Biagoni of South Africa, 25.2-23.7, in their final match to reign supreme in the eChampions Trophy World Series #2 yesterday.

De los Santos said he bagged his 19th gold medal under pressure.

The two-time Southeast Asian (SEA) Games bronze medallst shared on his Facebook page that on the day of the finals, he and his student Fatima A-Isha Lim Hamsain arrived in the tournament venue around 11:20 a.m. last Monday only to be told that the mall will be closing at 12nn for everyone’s safety.

"So we basically had around 30 mins to finish everything. Despite the time pressure, we succeeded. But also because of the possibility of a brownout due to the typhoon, we rushed back home to upload our videos. And fortunately again, we succeeded," said De los Santos.  "Even with these circumstances, I was able to win the finals and bring home my 19th gold."

The most recent feat of De los Santos again became extra special because Hamsain and his two other wards in Christina Colonia and Julia Ian Marcos also lorded it over in their respective categories.

Hamsain clinched gold in the U15 female e-kumite and a silver in the e-kata, Colonia emerged as champion in the U18 female e-kata, while Marcos took home silver medal in the female seniors e-kata.

"Thank you to those who supported us," said De los Santos.