MANILA, Philippines—Filipino karateka James De Los Santos continued his drive for the top spot in the virtual Kata rankings after bagging the gold medal in the E-Karate games Wednesday.
De Los Santos bested Slovenia’s Nejc Sternisa, 25.9-23.4, in the final to maintain his no.2 standing in e-Kata while also increasing his medal tally to five golds, two silvers, and one bronze in the 13 tournaments that he joined in a span of four months.
“Snagged my fifth virtual gold medal!” posted De Los Santos on his Instagram account. “ Just concluded the E-Karate Games 2020 in Men’s Senior Shotokan Kata division.”
“This tournament will add points to the virtual kata world rankings. The journey to no.1 is a long road, but I’m not stopping.”
De Los Santos’ final victory marked his third win against Sternisa but the gap between him and World no. 1 Eduarda Garcia of Portugal is still a long way.
Garcia has 7,075.00 points under his name while De Los Santos is at 3,825.00.
De Los Santos, however, holds a victory over Garcia when he defeated the Portuguese in the Athletes’ E-Tournament on August 13.
The 30-year-old karateka defeated United Kingdom’s Jamie Parfitt, 25.1-20.4, and Iran’s Hossein Tani, 25.5-24.3, in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively.