Rebecca Cyril Torres was the lone representative of the Philippines in the kata event of the 9th Southeast Asian Karate Championships in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Karate Pilipinas Sports Federation president Richard Lim opted to bring a team composed of young, promising athletes to the tournament because he wanted to keep some of his blue-chip performers under wraps, hoping to pull off a surprise in the Vietnam SEA Games in May.
Torres, though, provided an early big surprise of her own on Friday as she bagged a silver medal after a tightly-fought contest in the finals against Indonesia in the women’s kata competition of the warm-up tournament participated by Southeast Asian countries.
She beat opponents from Malaysia and Cambodia on the way to the finals before losing by just .03 points to an Indonesian foe, according to Lim.
Filipina-Japanese Junna Tsukii, the Philippines’ top women kata performer, skipped the tournament as she is currently training in Tokyo, Japan for her participation in the Karate 1-Premier League set April 22 to 24 in Matosinhos, Portugal.
Joining Tsukii in the Portugal meet is fellow 2019 SEA Games gold medalist Jamie Christine Lim, who is currently training at Teacher’s Camp in Baguio City, together with other members of the team that were left behind.
Tsukii also qualified for the World Games set in Birmingham, Alabama in July.
Cambodia is hosting the seven countries in the tournament, namely Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Indonesia from March 21 to 27 at the National Karate Training Center inside the Royal University of Phnom Penhas as part of its preparation for the 2023 SEA Games.
The Philippines sent 11 athletes under the care of national coach Okay Arpa of Turkey.
The Kumite (sparring) team members are Oliver Manalac, John Christian Lachica, John Kyle Tabilog, John Matthew Manantan, Alwyn Batican, Prince Izmen Alejo, and Ivan Christopher Agustin on the men’s squad and Maryanne Montalvo and Rita Alexis Cuadra on the women’s team.