Karate Pilipinas holds e-kata tournament–minus Filipino World No. 1

Karate Pilipinas will finally enter the world of e-tournaments, hosting an e-kata championships that will run until Dec. 20

The national federation, however, won’t have perhaps the world’s biggest star in the sport right now—despite the fact that he is a Filipino.

Karate Pilipinas did not invite the reigning World No. 1. James de los Santos would be too busy anyway.

“I have a lot of tournaments am focusing on,” De los Santos said. “I want to widen the gap [in world standings] even more.”

De los Santos has three tournaments on schedule, each providing him with an opportunity to further pull away from an elite cast of world-class athletes.

The Filipino standout currently has 15,305 points as he continues widening the gap between him and his closest pursuers, erstwhile No. 1 Eduardo Garcia of Portugal (8,890) and Matias Moreno Domont of Switzerland (8145).

He recently beat Domont, 24.6 to 24.1, in the finals of the eChampions Trophy World Series.

It would have been a great opportunity for Karate Pilipinas to have the dominating De los Santos add more luster to its tournament. But clearly, there is no love lost between the athlete and the national association that dropped him from the national team and is now only trying to catch up with the online trend—ten months into the coronavirus pandemic that halted in-person sporting events.

The 30-year-old De los Santos has already won 30 tournaments online to solidify his standings as top e-kata senior male competitor.

Meanwhile, De los Santos’ protege, Fatima A-Isha Lim Hamsain, ruled three events recently to become No. 1 in the U-15 division.