Southeast Asian Games medalist Joane Orbon has been continuously training and hoping that she can once again join a qualifying tournament for the coming Tokyo Olympics.
The 26-year-old Orbon said this on Zoom from her hometown in San Jose, California, where she is doing her workouts.
“For now, everyone is hoping that the Olympics will continue, and that goes with my teammates,” said Orbon during yesterday’s weekly session of TOPS:Usapang Sports.
Orbon was once part of the US National Team, and has won gold medals in the junior division back in 2008, 2013 and 2014, and while entered in the -61 kgs kumite.
But, she gave up her slot in the US squad to be part of the Philippine team.
Since March, Orbon has been training online, and after many competitions were cancelled because of ongoing restrictions to stop the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The last time Orbon joined a tournament was in February with Jamie Lim.
And they earned big points after the two earned gold medals in the Kharkiv Open 2020 in Ukraine.
They did this after Lim and Orbon took the top honors the 68kg and 61kg categories, respectively.
The tournament they joined was held February 21 to 22 at Sports Palace “Lokomotyv” in the Eastern Ukranian city of Kharkiv.
This was their first major win since coming off a successful stint in the 30th Southeast Asian Games held in Manila last December.
Lim’s gold came in the 61kg category after besting Indonesian world champion Georgia Zefanya.
Orbon, who switched from the US Karate Federation to the Philippines, settled for bronze in her first stint for the national team.
“The schedule (of the next qualifiers) is still up in the air,” said Orbon.
National karateka Junna Tsukii is also seeking a qualifying slot.
In February, Tsukii reached the fourth round of the Dubai leg of the 2020 Karate1 Premier League.
Philippine Karatedo Federation president Richard Lim is keeping his fingers crossed that Tsukii, Lim and Orbon will remain on track for slots to the Olympics.