FILE – Jamie Lim. PHOTO COURTESY OF JAMIE LIM
MANILA, Philippines—No stranger to hurdling overwhelming odds, karateka Jamie Lim has been crossing her fingers that the piercing injuries on both hands will fully heal in time for the 31st Southeast Asian Games.
The 2019 SEA Games gold medalist in the women’s kumite +61kg category is aching to defend her title in Hanoi, Vietnam next month, but a fractured left middle finger and another crack in her right hand have impeded Lim’s progress.
“My middle finger is a complete fracture, so recovery could take more time than usual. I just focus on my rehab and training on my kicks right now,” said Lim at the PSC Hour aired over Radyo Pilipinas 2.
The daughter of PBA great Samboy Lim injured her right hand on March 5 and the middle finger on March 16 during sparring, forcing her to leave the national karate team’s bubble training in Baguio City posthaste for treatment in Manila.
With no recourse but to skip the World Karate Federation Premier League in Portugal come April 22, Lim expressed hope that she won’t be obliged to forgo the SEA Games karate competitions on May 18-22 in Hanoi as well.
“I won’t be able to make it to Portugal because of these fractures, but I remain hopeful (for the SEA Games) and keep on training,” said Lim, whose world ranking rose to No. 22 in her weight class following a silver medal in the Asian championships in Kazakhstan last year.
“I just look at this as an obstacle that I will try to overcome as best as I can. The doctors are doing everything in rehab to speed up the healing,” added Lim.
She was enlisted in the 18-athlete karate team bound for Vietnam with Jason Macaalay (men’s -60kgs), John Matthew Manantan (-67kgs), Prince Alejo (-75kgs), Ivan Agustin (-84kgs), Junna Tsukii (women’s -50kgs), Mae Soriano (-55kgs) and Remon Misu (-68kgs).
This team has been working out daily at the PSC-controlled facility at Teacher’s Camp in Baguio for the past six months together with the men’s and women’s kata entries.
“We’ve been training so hard since last year and we did not go easy even if the Games are still months away,” said Lim. “We all help each other and learn from each other in the camp.”
According to Karate Pilipinas president Ricky Lim, karatekas from Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia will pose the biggest hurdles to their objective of at least duplicating or even surpassing the team’s medal haul of two gold medals, one silver and nine bronzes back in 2019.
Just a week after the SEA Games, the national karatekas will see action in the Karate Pilipinas National Championships on May 28-29 at the Music Hall of SM Mall of Asia and a full team will be sent to the Asian Games in Hangzhou, China on September 12-25.