Junna Tsukii gets No. 2 spot in Karate Premier League rankings

Filipino-Japanese karateka Junna Tsukii —FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Filipino-Japanese karateka Junna Tsukii took second seed of the Karate Premier League’s yearly rankings released recently.

But the Southeast Asian Games gold medalist said sje unsatisfied with her newly-gained spot and vowed to do better.

Tsukii is behind top seed Serap Ozcelik Arapoglu of Turkey in the standings for the female kumite -50kg division.

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“The annual ranking from 2020 to 2021 puts me second in the world, this is not a satisfying result for me,” wrote Tsukii on Facebook. “I will do my best to be stronger.”

It had been disappointing 2021 for Tsukii as she failed to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics after she lost to Ivet Goranova of Bulgaria in the qualifying tournament in Paris.

Tsukii won a bronze medal in the 2018 Asian Games and gold in the 2019 SEA Games.

She also has two bronze medals in the 2017 SEA Games for kumite -50kg and the team kumite event in Kuala Lumpur.