Cebuano bet James de los Santos reached the finals of another online karatedo tournament.
The 30-year-old de los Santos made it past the semifinals of the E-Karate Games 2020 and is now in contention for his fifth gold medal this year.
De los Santos' chance to continue his streak of victories came when he outpointed British rival James Parfitt, 25.1-20.4, in the individual male seniors' semifinals.
“I’m amazed that I’m in another finals. The hard work won’t stop. My journey to no. 1 in the virtual kata world rankings continues,” said De los Santos.
He reached the semis after beating Sternisa Nejc of Luxembourg, 25.5-24.3.
Last month, De los Santos earned his fourth gold medal this after he emerged slightly victorious over Garcia, 25-24.9, in the online Athletes’ E-Tournament's Kata Individual Male Seniors' Division.
His coach Masa Saito was able to help him get through the difficulties of the Unshu, taught to shotokan practitioners at the 3rd to 4th Dan level.
De los Santos arranged a finals' meeting with Garcia, who is from Club Karate de Olhao after the latter fought off Swiss bet Matias Moreno-Domont, 25.1-24, in the semifinals.
A standout of the International Shotokan Federation, De los Santos prevailed over Bolivia's Angel Sanchez, 24-6.-24.5 in the semifinals.
In the quarterfinals, a 24.8-24.0 verdict allowed De los Santos to get past American fighter Alfredo Bustamante.
Two months ago, the Cebu-based De los Santos snared his third gold medal in the online Balkan Open karatedo etournament. There, he outpointed Silvio Cerrone-Biagioni, 25.3-24.5, in the finals of the individual kata men's division.
