Top Pinoy karateka assured of silver in Athletes' E-Tournament

MANILA, Philippines – World No. 2 OJ delos Santos assured himself of at least a silver after advancing to the finals in the Athletes’ E-Tournament where he was battling World No. 1 Eduardo Garcia of Portugal.

The 30-year-old delos Santos edged American Alfredo Bustamante, 24.8-24, and Bolivian Angel Sanchez, 24.6-24.5, to advance to the finals and set up an intriguing showdown with Garcia, currently the highest ranked online karateka in the world.

While Garcia had already emailed his entry, the two-time Southeast Asian Games bronze medalist has yet to submit in Tuesday’s 5 p.m. deadline.

The result will be announced Wednesday.

Delos Santos moved from No. 3 to No. 2 in the world rankings after he topped the Balkan Open eTournament on August 3 and will climb a little closer to Garcia if ends up winning another one.

Interestingly, delos Santos lost to Garcia in the Adidas Karate World Open Series that was mired with controversy after the former was initially announced the winner but was stripped of it and given the title to the latter due to a scoring glitch.

Already, delos Santos had already raked in three golds, a silver and a bronze out of 12 tournaments he joined in a four-month span since the lockdown was implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And hopefully, this one turns out gold.