Delos Santos claims gold in World Shoto Cup

MANILA, Philippines - National team member OJ delos Santos displayed superb form to bag the men’s kata gold at the close of the second ISKF World Shoto Cup Karate Championships at the Waterfront Hotel grand ballroom in Cebu City last Sunday.

Performing in front of a hometown crowd, Delos Santos impressed all seven foreign judges with his poise, power and precision in performing the difficult “hands-in-the-clouds” routine, netting him the best score of 42.3 points.

The 22-year-old De La Salle University marketing student narrowly beat two Fil-Ams in Michael Cornel and Jumbo Banaria, who represented the US and both tallied the same 42 points in the event sponsored by Smart, Unilever and Gatorade.

A former Pan American junior champion, Cornel, whose father, Joey, is also a Cebuano native, bagged the silver for having the higher average scores while Banaria, the defending champion, took the bronze medal.

“I’m overwhelmed and near-speechless right now because this is my best finish in an international competition. I really chose one of the most difficult katas and all the hard work paid off,” said Delos Santos, who won a kata bronze medal and team kumite silver in last year’s Indonesia Southeast Asian Games.

“I would also thank to thank my parents for their support and national coach David Lay, who helped me refine my moves,” he added. “Without them this victory would not be possible.”

“OJ’s win was icing on the cake,” said Lay, the International Shotokan Karate Federation country director for the Philippines.

The Filipino bets dominated the junior action last Saturday with a bumper crop harvest of 16 gold, 14 silver and eight silver medals.

Indeed, Delos Santos’ triumph capped another productive day for the hosts, who also took a gold in the men’s senior team kata and two silvers in the men’s senior individual kata and team kumite.

ISKF-Philippines president Benjamin Villamayor. Barry Orenciana and Roehl Parungao, all either in their late 40s or early 50s, showed they still had the right moves in besting  the US squad for the gold, while Parungao finished a close second behind American Paul McKeena, who also took the senior kumite title.

Philippine Karatedo Federation president Joey Romasanta, who flew here early Sunday just to witness the last day of the competition before heading back to Manila the same night, cited the efforts of Lay and PKF secretary general Raymund Reyes for putting together a memorable competition.

“The staging of the 2nd ISKF World Shoto Cup here showed again the organizational savvy of Filipinos.  I would also like to congratulate OJ for his impressive victory,” Romasanta said. “We can use his win to inspire his teammates to do well in next year’s Myanmar Southeast Asian Games.”

Americans Pedram Rastegar and Yoko Ishida captured the men’s individual  kumite and women’s individual kata titles, respectively, while Canada’s Carol Haddad secured the women’s individual kumite gold.

Australia swept the men’s team kumite and women’s team kata titles while the US and Canada captured the men’s team kata and women’s team kumite championships,  respectively.

The third edition of the ISKF World Shoto Cup will be held in 2016 in South Africa.  

Captions:

National team member  OJ delos Sanots soars to the air while performing a routine on the way to victory in the men’s individual  kata competition at the end of the 2nd ISKF World Shoto Cup Karate Championships at the Waterfront Hotel grand ballroom in Cebu City last Sunday.

 OJ delos Santos has the national flag draped on his shoulders at the podium after bagging the men’s individual kata gold in the 2nd ISKF World Shoto Cup Karate Championships at the Waterfront Hotel grand ballroom in Cebu City last Sunday.  Flanking him are silver medalist Michael Cornel (left) and bronze medalist Jumbo Banaria, the defending champion.

OJ delos Santos smiles as he bites into his gold medal after winning the men’s individual kata championship in the 2nd ISKF World Shoto Cup Karate Championships at the Waterfront Hotel grand ballroom in Cebu City last Sunday.

OJ delos Santos is all alone on the winner’s podium after winning the men’s individual kata championship in the 2nd ISKF World Shoto Cup Karate Championships at the Waterfront Hotel grand ballroom in Cebu City last Sunday.

(If possible, kindly credit photos to Dave delo Santos, the father of OJ, thanks.)