Photo from Junna Tsukii’s Instagram
MANILA, Philippines—Filipino karatekas Junna Tsukii and Jamie Lim seized silver medals in the 2021 Asian Karate Championships Wednesday at Baluan Sholak Sports Palace in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Tsukii lost to hometown bet and Tokyo Olympian Moldir Zhangbyrbay, 9-5, in the -50kg women’s kumite event.
Lim, meanwhile, missed out on the gold after a 2-1 loss to Sarah Al-Ameri of United Arab Emirates in the final of the -61kg kumite.
“I am not satisfied with the color of my medal, but I am very happy that I was able to continue my challenge for the past year. Thanks for all the love and support!” the Fil-Japanese posted on social media.
Though, the gold was the goal, placing second still served as a good bounce back performance for Tsukii after her early exit in the world championships last month.
Tsukii, the world No. 5 in her class, is just getting started as she tries to continue her progress into the new year.
“I have a lot of things to do again next year so I can’t stop yet.”