Photo from Junna Tsukii’s Facebook
MANILA, Philippines — Olympic hopeful Junna Tsukii got a big momentum-boosting win after capturing the title in the Golden Belt Karate tiff in Cacak, Serbia.
Tsukki, a gold medalist in the Southeast Asian Games and bronze medal winner in the Asian Games, has been training with her father Shin in Saitama, Japan.
“I’m very happy to be able to fight with the top players in this time,” wrote Tsukii on her Facebook page. “I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Serbian Karate Federation and to Roksanda sensei for giving us such a wonderful opportunity.”
“Let’s move on to take advantage of this experience.”
Tsukii was fresh off from competing in the Premier League but bowed out of the first round when she lost to Yorgelis Salazar of Venezuela.
Nevertheless, she racked up four unbeaten matches in Serbia to capture the gold in the Golden Belt.
Though she’s based in Japan, Tsukii hopes to rejoin Jamie Lim, Joan Orbon, and the rest of the national karate team in either their training camp in Turkey or in the World Olympic Qualifier in Paris, France.