By Waylon Galvez
World No. 2 James De los Santos capped September – his month to remember – by winning his seventh online gold medal and 12th overall after beating Nejc Sternisa of Slovenia, 25.2-23.7, in the Venice Cup 2020.
The victory of the 30-year-old De los Santos, a former national team member, moved him closer to world No. 1 Eduardo Garcia of Portugal.
The results were posted on the webpage of the World Karate Federation Tuesday night.
“My 12th gold has brought me a lot closer to the No. 1 spot,” said De los Santos. “Back in August, I became the No. 2 virtual kata player. But I was trailing behind the No. 1 spot by nearly 3000 points.”
“Now, I’ve really come this far. I’m surprised with myself. I just need at least two more tournaments to claim that spot,” added De los Santos, who hiked his output to 7675 points to Garcia’s 8125 points.
De los Santos earned a spot in the final via a default over Domont Matias Moreno of Switzerland in the semifinal. He also defeated Kevin Petry of Luxembourg 22.4-22.9 in the quarterfinal and Scott Taylor of Canada 23.9-21.8 in the round of 16 stage.
The month of September had De los Santos winning the Tokaido Maribor Open eTournament, the 4th SportData eTournament World Series, the Hatamoto Kai Mitad Del Mundo E-Tournament, E-Champions Trophy World Series, Miyamoto Musashi Five Rings and the 2nd Dutch Open E-Tournament.
He also ruled 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.
October remains a busy month for De los Santos.
