Tsukii, Lim end up as silver medalists

MANILA, Philippines — Junna Tsukii and Jamie Lim fell against different opponents and settled for silver-medal finish at the close of the 2021 Asian Karate Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan yesterday.

Tsukii fell to hometown bet Moldir Zhangbyrbay, 9-5, in the women’s -51-kilogram kumite final while Lim absorbed a heartbreaking 2-1 defeat at the hands of Sarah Alameri of the United Arab Emirates, 2-1, in the -61kg class.

It was not the finish the country was expecting as Tsukii and Lim came into the finale as the prohibitive favorites with the former being World No. 4 and Asian No. 2 and the latter finishing as the best Asian in the World Championships in Dubai last month.

The Nationals, whose trip was bankrolled by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), ended up with a haul of two silver and four bronze medals.

Sakura Alforte accounted for a couple of bronzes in the women’s Under-21 and senior individual kata while John Enrico Vasquez and Remon Misu delivered the other two in the U21 male individual kata and U21 female -61kg kumite, respectively.