By Waylon Galvez
Karate ace James De Los Santos marched into the gold medal round after posting two impressive wins in the first two stages of the e-Karate Games 2020 on Monday.
Already a four-time gold medalist in online karate tournament, De Los Santos, currently ranked No. 2 in the world, was hopeful to win the final round Wednesday Slovenia’s Nejc Sternisa.
“It feels great being to be in final again,” said De Los Santos. “My journey to the No. 1 spot in the virtual kata world rankings won’t stop. This motivates me to work a lot harder.”
On his way to the title match, the 30-year-old De Los Santos edged Jamie Parfitt of the United Kingdom 25.1-20.4 in the quarterfinal, and Tani Hossein of Iran 25.5-24.3 in the semifinal.
Sternisa, on the other hand, defeated Murilo Alvez of Brazil 23.6-23.3 in the quarterfinals and Kevin Petry of Luxembourg 24.3-23 in the semifinals of the virtual tournament.
De Los Santos has earlier ruled the Athletes E-Tournament last month, the Balkan Open eTournament last July, the Korokotta Cup last June and the Palestine International Karate Cup last April.
