Jamie Christine Lim (left) in the Asian Games karate competition. –POOL PHOTO
HANGZHOU, China—Jamie Christine Lim couldn’t sustain an earlier victory and yielded to a two-time Asian champion from Kazakhstan in the karate competitions of the 19th Asian Games.
The 22-year-old Assel Kanay scored a yuko on Lim for a 1-0 triumph in the women’s kumite -61kg division, ushering the Filipino out of the quarterfinals on Friday at the Linping Sports Centre Gymnasium here.
Lim, a two-time Southeast Asian Games gold medalist and one-time Asian championship silver performer, started off on the right foot by overwhelming Zulkhumor Tursunalieva of Uzbekistan in the round of 16.
So far, Filipino karatekas have contributed to the country’s medal tally by picking up a bronze courtesy of Filipino-Japanese Sakura Alforte in the women’s individual kata.
There’s still hope for them to climb the podium when World Games champion Junna Tsukii closes out the Philippine campaign in these Games on Sunday.
Tsukii, who settled for a silver medal in the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games early this year shrouded in controversy, is hard-pressed to bounce back starting with her round of 16 face-off with Cambodia’s Srey Phea Chonn in the women’s -50kg kumite.