Karatekas off to Istanbul to chase Olympic berth

MANILA, Philippines – The Philippine karatedo team will fly to Istanbul, Turkey on February 22 for a final push at an Olympic berth.

Karate Pilipinas president Richard Lim said Jamie Lim, Sharief Afif, Ivan Agustin and Alvin Bactican will join Junna Tsukii and Joane Orbon in Istanbul where they will hold a three-month training camp.

Lim, Afif, Agustin and Bactican are currently training at the Inspire Sports Academy in Calamba, Laguna, Tsukii will be coming from Japan and Orbon from the United States.

Interestingly, the Nationals will get to kill two birds with one stone as the Premier League where Olympic ranking points are at stake was moved from Portugal on February 14 to Turkey from March 12-14.

From Istanbul, the squad will proceed to Paris, France in early June for the final Olympic qualifier where the top three in each division advance to the quadrennial event.

There are four ways to make it to Tokyo — finishing in the top 4 of the Olympic ranking system, top three in the regional, as a wild card and top three in Paris.

“We have a strong chance in Paris since most of the top players should be qualified by then,” said Lim.

Karatedo will make its Olympic debut in Tokyo.