De los Santos grabs fourth gold medal

Former national karateka James de los Santos tabbed another gold medal, this time at the expense of Eduardo Garcia, the top-ranked e-Kata athlete during the Athlete’s E-Tournament Series 1 on Wednesday. The victory not only hiked De los Santos’ virtual gold medal haul to four since returning to competition just in April, but it also proved that the pace-setting Portuguese could be beaten. “This is the third time I’ve faced [him]. And it’s always in [the Final],” he told the Inquirer. “I was unlucky the first two times.” De los Santos feels what changed this time out was heeding a suggestion from both his parents and his mentor Masa Saito. “They told me to use my favorite kata, Unsu … and it really turned out for the best,” he said. —Denison Rey A. Dalupang