The Philippines’ Jamie Lim barely missed the bronze medal after narrowly losing to Snel Lynn of the Netherlands on Thursday at the WKF World Championship at the Hamdan Arena in Dubai.
Lim gamely engaged Lynn in their female 68Kg repechage match which ended at a 1-1 tie.
Tournament rules call for the four judges and referee to cast their votes in case of a tie at the end of the regulation.
Lim, however, lost via a close 3-2 decision.
Making her debut in the sport’s toughest and biggest stage, the Southeast Asian Games gold medalist made heads turn when she racked up three victories in the elimination round at the expense of Alana Kochieva of the Russian Federation, 4-2, Laura Sivert of France, and Sarara Shimada of Japan, both via majority decisions.
Then, she faced the reigning World Premier League champion Anita Serogina of Ukraine in the quarterfinals and lost a tight contest, 1-2.
“It’s her first time, but very impressive in the world championships and she is being talked about in the Asian region as somebody to watch out in SEA Games and Asian Games,” said Richard Lim, president of the Karate Pilipinas Sports Federation.
Lim’s brilliant performance has convinced the karate chief that the daughter of basketball legend Samboy Lim can be developed as the “face” of Philippine karate.
Global exposure and training that were similarly given to EJ Obiena of athletics, Carlos Yulo of gymnastics and Olympic gold medalist Hidilyn Diaz will also be accorded Lim.
“That’s what we intend to do,” added the karate chief, whose federation was recognized during the WKF Congress three days ago as the official sports association for karate in the Philippines.
Lim accompanied the six-man Philippine team composed of four athletes and two coaches.
Another Philippine Kumite bet in Fil-Japanese Junna Tsukii won her first match in the Female 50kg category against her foe from North Macedonia, but lost to Uzbek opponent in her next bout.
Philippine kata athletes John Enrico Vasquez and Sarah Pangilinan were still performing as of this writing.
The two coaches who accompanied the team were Chino Veguillas and Okay Arpa. They were joined by Philippine Sports Commissioner Ramon Fernandez as a special guest of the WKF president Antonio Espinos.