By WAYLON GALVEZ
Former national team member James de los Santos is aiming for his 12th gold medal after winning via default against Domont Matias Moreno of Switzerland in the Venice Cup 2020 last Saturday.
Inspired by six gold medals this month, De los Santos went all out when he submitted his semifinal video entry despite receiving a report that Moreo was hurting and not in good shape.
“My opponent in the semis was Switzerland. He was feeling ill…it’s not COVID-19 which is good,” said the 30-year-old online karate sensation De los Santos who won his 11th gold medal last week.
“I actually had the option to do a basic kata and then move straight to the championship round. But I still chose to perform a high kata. As they say in the 4th Dojo Kun (principles) of karate: Respect others,” he added
“This is my way of paying respect to my competitors.”
On his way to the final, De los Santos, who represents the International Shotokan Karate Federation, downed Scott Taylor of Canada 23.9-21.8 in the Round of 16 and Kevin Petry of Luxembourg 22.4-22.9 in the quarterfinal.
De los Santos will face in the final Slovenia’s Nejc Sternisa who edged Ruben Vinje Fagerland of Norway 24.4-24.2 in the other semifinal pairing of the online event.
The world No. 2 De los Santos bagged his 11th gold medal when he beat Moreno in the Tokaido Maribor Open eTournament last week.
