WORLD Games gold medalist Junna Tsukii and up-and-coming Sakura Alforte shared the limelight at the end of the 10th Southeast Asian Karatedo Federation Championships over the weekend at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Tsukii, a Fil-Japanese, humbled Vietnam Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Shahmahlarani Chandran of Malaysia 5-1 in the finals to rule the women’s minus 50kg division of the competition organized by the Karate Pilipinas Sports Federation Inc.
The Tokyo-based Alforte, whose father is a Filipino and mother a Japanese, emerged as the country’s double gold medalist, sweeping the women’s individual and Under-21 kata titles in the tournament that served as a preview to the Cambodia Southeast Asian Games in May.
Inspired by the hometown crowd, Alforte, 20, bested fancied Thai Monsicha Tarratannakul, a silver medalist in the Vietnam Games, 42.60-41.30, to top the women’s individual kata and nipped Vietnam’s Nguyen Ngoc Tram, 41.80-40.50, in the women’s U-21 kata finale.
Adding another mint for the country was Samantha Lopez, who topped the girls’ cadet minus 47kg kumite.
“I am glad to beat the Malaysian but I feel I am just 75 percent of my potential. It could have been better,” said Tsukii, who became the first Pinoy karateka to bag a gold medal in the World Games, a quadrennial meet for non-Olympic spots in Birmingham, Alabama last year.
The petite and pretty athlete added she is preparing for the Cambodia SEA Games to regain the title she won at home in the 2019 Philippine Games after exiting the event early in last year’s regional meet in the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi.
“I’m really happy about these two golds. It is really special because the SEAKF competition is being held in the Philippines. I feel it has more meaning than the usual tournament,” said Alforte, who left the country in 2020 to study at Waseda University in Tokyo where she is now a third-year student.
She said that unlike the SEA Games, “we are allowed to field two athletes in each division so this was a good opportunity for me to test ourselves against the other Southeast Asian players.”
Due to her outstanding outing, Alforte acknowledged that she might get a crack at making her SEA Games debut in Cambodia as she disputes the lone slot with Rebecca Cyril Torres, a bronze medalist in the Vietnam Games in 2022.
“I believe it is a good rivalry because it allows us to pull each other up and make us better while supporting each other,” she said.
KPSF president Richard Lim was elated by the outcome of the tourney, saying “the SEAKF championships was a complete success because nine countries and 400-plus entries participated. “We were able to see good local players from both the cadet and junior ranks who have the potential to someday play for the national team,” said.
