By Waylon Galvez
Online karate sensation James De los Santos captured his 11th gold medal as he outclassed Domont Matias Moreno of Switzerland, 5-0, in the final round of the Tokaido Maribor Open eTournament.
The result was a fitting sequel to his two-gold haul two days ago including in the 4th SportData eTournament World Series.
On his way to the final round, De los Santos – a former member of the karatedo national team – beat Datius Duhan of Slovakia, 5-0, in the quarterfinal, and Bolivia’s Angel Sanchez, 4-1, in the semifinal.
Aside from the SportData eTournament World Series where he triumphed against world No. 1 Eduardo Garcia of Portugal, De los Santos, 30, also claimed the gold medal in the Hatamoto Kai Mitad Del Mundo E-Tournament.
His other gold medal wins were from the E-Champions Trophy World Series, Miyamoto Musashi Five Rings event and the 2nd Dutch Open E-Tournament early this month.
De los Santos also won the e-Karate Games 2020 and the Athletes E-Tournament last August, the Balkan Open eTournament in July, the Korokotta Cup last June and the Palestine International Karate Cup last April.
What made the day extra special for De los Santos was the achievements of MKKPI club members Fatima A-Isha Hamsain, who won the gold in U-15 Maribor Open, and Julia Ian Marcos, who settled with a bronze in the U-21 Austrian Junior Open.
“It made me a lot happier when there were two young students from MKKPI that gave virtual kata a try, and they ended up winning a gold and a bronze. It’s their first time trying virtual kata,” said De Los Santos, who uses the MKKPI club as his dojo for the virtual tournaments.
