Unstoppable De los Santos bags ‘meaningful’ 25th gold

CEBU, Philippines —   He’s been on an amazing streak for the past five months, winning gold medal after the other in virtual karate tournaments that eventually installed him as the No.1 player in the e-kata world rankings.

But it seems that James de los Santos isn’t done from there yet.

As a matter of fact, the 30-year-old global karate star has just notched a meaningful triumph, something that he is most proud of.

This came after De los Santos outclassed Botond Nagy of Hungary by the slimmest of margins, 24.9-24.5, to rule Katana Intercontinental League #4 yesterday.

“I would have to admit that this match meant a lot to me because my final opponent (Nagy) is Hungary’s best senior male kata player,” said De los Santos.

Also, Nagy is currently no. 34 in the Olympic ranking, no. 39 in the World Karate Federation (WKF) ranking, and a Guinness world record holder for the fastest roundhouse kick in karate.

“Even though I emerged victorious, it was a very tough fight and an honor to be facing a kata player of such caliber. This will be a very memorable win,” added De los Santos.

With his 25th gold, the two-time Southeast Asian (SEA) Games bronze medalist virtually sealed his goal to remain on top of the world online karate rankings until the end of the year.

Since dislodging erstwhile front-runner Eduardo Garcia of Portugal last month, De los Santos just kept on widening his gap from his rivals.

The International Shotokan Karate Federation of the Philippines standout currently has 11, 920 points that is expected to balloon once the points he earned from the World Series and the Katana League will be added.

Garcia is a far second with 8,740 points followed by Matias Moreno Domont of Switzerland (5,775 pts.), Silvio Cerone-Biagoni of South Africa (5,470 pts.), and Nejc Sternisa of Slovenia (4,445 pts.).