PH team cut now close to being best in the world

Last year, James delos Santos decided to use his own money to train in Saitama, Japan. That’s about the same time the national kata team, where he once belonged, went to Osaka in a training camp funded by the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC).

“I didn’t know anybody. I was all alone there in Japan and I felt left behind,” Delos Santos recalled.

He claimed he and five other teammates were cut from the national team competing in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games because they spoke out about irregularities in the karate association.

Fortunately, that solo venture turned out to be a good decision. In Saitama, Shin Tsukii, father of teammate and eventual SEA Games champ Junna, introduced him to Japanese mentor Masa Saito.

“He’s like the Phil Jackson-type of a coach,” Delos Santos said of his sensei, who helped him move up a notch from the level that won him bronze in the 2017 SEA Games.

With Saito, Delos Santos has become an overnight sensation in online tournaments, flashing his precise and snappy form punctuated by low-pitched hissing and grunting like an animal in a fight.

Saito was also among those who Delos Santos felt never left his side and fueled his success in e-karate, where he is now just a tad short of the world No. 1 ranking.

The storybook run didn’t escape the attention of PSC Chair William “Butch” Ramirez, who said the government agency will recognize Delos Santos’ feat.

“The PSC board has the mandate to recognize exemplary Filipino athletes regardless of his affiliations,” Ramirez told the Inquirer.

Delos Santos, who has won 12 tournaments—none of which offered cash prizes, has now accumulated 7,675 points in e-kata individual male seniors, just 450 points behind Portugal’s Eduardo Garcia (8125) who is No. 1 in the world.

“I’m amazed at how far I’ve come since last August when I was 3,000 points behind Garcia,” Delos Santos told the Inquirer.