By Waylon Galvez
Southeast Asian (SEA) Games gold medal winner Junna Tsukii ruled the Cairo edition Sunday night in Egypt (early Monday in Manila) for his second second in the Karate 1 Premier League.
The Filipino-Japanese fighter won against hometown bet Areeg Rashed 2-1 in the final bout of the -50 kilogram division of the women’s kumite category of this meet organized by the World Karate Federation (WKF).
“Gold! Thank you for your support,” said Tsukii in her Facebook post. “We won the Premier League Tournament! Thank you for all your support.”
On her way to the final round, Tsukii won her matches against Yorgelis Salazar of Venezuela, Aleksandra Grukic of Austria, Reem Ahmed Salama – also a fighter from the host nation.
This is the second title for the 29-year-old Tsukii after she nailed the gold medal in the Lisbon event back in April 30 of this year, where she defeated Kazakhstan rival Moldir Zhangbyrbay in the finals.
Prior to that, she has won five bronze medals, in Rabat, Morocco and Montreal, Canada in 2019, twice in Santiago, Chile and in Paris, France in 2020. Then came her first title in Lisbon, Portugal.
The gold medal in Lisbon came a few months before the Japan-based athletes competed in the world event Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) held last June in France.
Unfortunately for Tsukii, she failed in her podium bid in the Summer Games following a stunning first round defeat.
