MANILA, Philippines — Denied of a gold medal in an online karate tournament late last month due to a technical glitch, Fil-Am OJ delos Santos made sure not to let another golden chance slip away, topping the Balkan Open eTournament Kata/Kumite yesterday.
The 30-year-old Delos Santos drew a score of 25.3 points and edged out South African Silvio Cerone-Biagioni (24.5) to win the eKata individual male seniors event.
He posted earlier triumphs over Slovenian Nejc Sternisa (24.1-23.8), Moroccan Abdellah Ouchene (24.7-23) and Spaniard Jose Antonio Ordonez Quiroz (25.4-24) before besting Cerone-Biagioni.
It was a victory that made up for Delos Santos’ heartbreaking effort in the Adidas Karate World Open Series eTournament 2020 on July 24 when he was awarded the gold only to get stripped of it later due to a scoring error.
Portuguese Eduardo Garcia took the mint instead.
The two-time Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist, who lost his spot in the Philippine team that saw action in the last SEAG edition in December last year, came back with a vengeance, topping the Balkan tilt.
It was the third gold for Delos Santos and fifth medal overall out of 12 tournaments he joined in a four-month span since the lockdown was implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
He also had a top finish in the Palestine Cup in April and in Korokotta Cup in June and snatched a silver and a bronze in the SportsData-E World Series in May and First Dutch Open in June, respectively.
With these strong showings, Delos Santos should improve in the world ranking where he is currently at No. 3.
The Balkan feat could also fuel his drive to regain a spot in the national team.