By MARK REY MONTEJO
Asian Games bronze medal winner Sakura Alforte exhibited awesome form and techniques and gifted the Philippines its third gold medal in the 11th Southeast Asian Karate Federation Championships 2024 in Bangkok, Thailand on Friday, April 26.
Combining speed, power and grace, the 21-year-old Alforte chalked up 40.3 points and beat Vietnamese Ngoc Tram Nguyen (40.1) in the final round of the individual senior female kata event.
Alforte, also a SEAG gold medalist, edged out rivals from Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam, Thailand, Cambodia and Malaysia to advance to the medal round.
Team PH earlier won two gold medals courtesy of Sebastian Niel Mañalac and Joan Denise Lumbao.
Mañalac (6-1) and Lumbao (4-1) outshone their Thai foes in the finals of the cadet male kumite -70kg and junior female kumite -59kg, respectively.
Apart from 3 golds, Team PH also also collected 15 bronze medals.
Alwyn Batican, Kirk Zamayla and Jamie Lim, the daughter of late basketball great Samboy, are still competing at posting time.
