Unsu master James de los Santos once again used arduous techniques of the advanced form of kata (unsu) to bag his 12th straight gold medal on Tuesday evening.
The Cebu City-based De los Santos, impressive with the slow and then explosive ippon-nukite (one finger strike) in his opening sequence, outscored Nejc Sternisa of Slovenia, 25.2-23.7, in the individual male senior finals of the second Venice Cup 2020 e-kata online tournament.
The world no. 2 De los Santos shifted in the finals to the “cloud hands” form, which are among the modern form of kata in the fourth dan level of found in Shotokan.
His efforts paid off as the world no. 5-ranked Sternisa tried to keep up with De los Santos, with the Gojushisho Sho form on his submitted video.
To get the proper mindset, De los Santos went out of his way to assist Maharlika Karatedo Kai of the Philippines International student Fatima A-Isha Lim Hamsain in doing her presentation in the under-16 category of the women’s kata in the Shureido World League.
Hamsain made it to the semifinals with 4-1 win over Maria Alvarado of Costa Rica before settling for the bronze medal.
De los Santos’ latest conquest put the 30-year-old karateka close to the no. 1 in the world rankings.
“I’m really close to no. 1 now after winning my 12th gold. The hard work is really paying off,” said De los Santos.
With world no. 1 Eduard Garcia still ahead with 8125 points, De los Santos is not far behind with 7675 points.
South African Silvio Cerone Biagioni is at no. 3 with 4030 points, while Matias Domont of Switzerland is fourth with 3645 points.
Sternisa, who beat Norwegian Ruben Fagerland, in the semifinals, 24.4-24.2, with the Unsu form, tallied a 3530 points in 5th position in the world rankings.
“I will always keep my guards up though. There will be players out there who are also skilled, and that’s what will keep me going,” added De los Santos.
De los Santos quickly reached the finals after Domont’s video of his performance was rejected by the judges. The Cebuano used the sansai as his semis presentation, while Domont didn’t have much to present due to illness.
On the other hand, Hamsain bowed to Scottish foe Hannah Benson, 1-4, in their semis tiff.
“What made this sweeter, is a bronze was snagged in the Shureido World League by a fellow MKKPI student Fatima A-Isha Lim Hamsain in the U16 women’s kata. I’m very glad to have assisted her,” said De los Santos.