Jamie Lim and Junna Tsukii will spearhead the seven-strong Philippine team battling the region’s best and brightest in the 2021 Asian Karate Championships slated Dec. 19-22 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Ms. Lim will compete in the women’s -61-kilogram division while Ms. Tsukii in the -50kg class for the national squad that also fielded in Remon Misu (women’s -61kg Under-21), Alwyn Batican (men’s -67kg), Ivan Agustin (men’s -75kg), Sakura Alforte (women’s individual kata) and John Enrico Vasquez (men’s kata).
The national karatekas arrived in Almaty as early as last Sunday to give them enough time to acclimatize to the conditions.
“We have a pretty good chance of getting a podium finish specially with Junna Tsukii and Jamie Lim,” Karate Pilipinas President Richard Lim on Thursday told The STAR. “But we also have a few surprises that we are also counting on.”
Ms. Lim also said they are using the four-day meet as an indicator on how the country will perform in the Hanoi Southeast Asian Games and the Hangzhou Asian Games next year.
“Overall, it will be a good gauge for the upcoming Asian and SEA Games,” said Ms. Lim.
The 24-year-old Ms. Lim hopes to draw strength from her solid World Championship debut in Dubai last month where she came two wins away from plucking a bronze medal.
Ms. Lim eventually emerged the best Asian performer and even bested Sarara Shimada of Japan where the martial arts sport came from.
Ms. Tsukii, for her part, should be one of the favorites being No. 4 in the world and No. 2 in Asia behind Japanese Miho Miyahara. — Joey Villar