By WAYLON GALVEZ
James De los Santos and Fatima A-Isha Lim Hamsain ruled their respective categories in the recent 1st Inner Strength Martial Arts International eTournament .
De los Santos, the world No. 1 e-kata player, won in the male senior’s division following a 25.4-24.6 win against Nejc Sternisa of Slovenia in the final round of the event sanctioned by the Word Karate Federation.
It was the second gold medal for De los Santos after he dominated the prestigious SportData eTournament World Series 1 late last month when he won against No. 4 Silvio Cerone-Biogioni of South Africa.
The results were posted Thursday.
The 30-year-old De los Santos edged George Phillips of United Kingdom 25-22.4 in the quarterfinal, and won against Domont Matias Moreno of Switzerland 24.7-21 in the semifinal stage.
“I’m really happy that I won my second gold for this year,” said De los Santos, a former national team member who won two bronze medals in two stints in the Southeast Asian Games.
The 15-year-old Hamsain, on the other hand, won gold in the U-18 e-kata female division with a stunning 24-23.5 victory against Marie Zinecker of Germany, and added the U-16 title with a 24.1-23.8 triumph opposite Jelisaveta Vasiljeva of Germany.
“I’m very proud to say that she challenged herself by competing in the older women’s kata categories, the U16 and U18 divisions. I’m very proud of her progress so keep it up,” said Delos Santos of Hamsain.
