The Philippines’ Junna Tsukii celebrates her gold medal finish in the women’s Karatedo-50 kg of the 30th Southeast Asian Games. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO/ Sherwin Vardeleon
MANILA, Philippines — Junna Tsukii lamented missing her shot at making the Tokyo Olympics a week after bowing out of the Karate World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Paris.
In a lengthy social media post, Tsukii expressed her disappointment after falling short in her bid.
“I’m so sorry I couldn’t get a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics. I have done everything for this goal, and I’m full of sadness that I cannot respond to the feelings of those who supported me,” Tsukii wrote.
“But with the love of all of you I was able to walk this far. Thank you so much for all your support, it really pains me right now, but I’ll wait for the day when I can stand up with a smile again. I fought away from my family and friends for four years, so I will take a little break and spend time with them. Maraming maraming salamat po (Thank you very much),” she added.
The Filipino-Japanese karateka’s journey to Tokyo ended after she lost to Ivet Goranova of Bulgaria, 2-1, in the Kumite Female -55kg Round of 32 of the qualifiers.
“Effort doesn’t always pay off, but there’s no doubt that this challenge has helped me grow a lot,” she said.
The 29-year-old Tsukii was among the country’s top bets in karate to qualify for the Games. She was coming off a gold medal performance in the World Karate Federation (WKF) Premier League in Lisbon, Portugal last month.
Tsukii is also a 2018 Asian Games bronze medalist and a gold medalist in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games.