By Waylon Galvez
Filipino karateka James De los Santos finally found a way to beat rival Eduardo Garcia of Portugal, coming through with a near-perfect performance to rule the Athletes E-Tournament by the slimmest of margins.
De los Santos received a total score of 25 points from the judges to beat out his rival by a mere .1 point after the two submitted their respective videos for the final match on Tuesday.
It was the fourth gold medal by the former PH team member in the online tournaments since the virus outbreak in March.
It was likewise a redemption of sort for De los Santos after losing to Garcia twice last month, including a controversial one.
“I’m really happy with the result,” said the 30-year-old De los Santos in a message to Tempo after the final result was posted online Wednesday morning.
“This is the third time I’ve faced Eduardo Garcia in a final match. My first two times were unlucky. Then at the third time, my kata coach from Japan, Masa Saito, and my parents suggested I use a different kata for this final.”
“So I used my favorite kata, Unsu, and I finally got him. I’m currently No. 2, and he’s the No. 1, which is why I’m very happy with the result. But it doesn’t stop there – I’ll continue to train harder for the next tournaments,” he added.
The former national team member lost to Garcia in the Adidas Karate World Open Series E-Tournament. The result initially had him as the winner, but the following day it declared Garcia the champion.
De los Santos said the organizers informed him of an error in one of the judges scoring was the reason. He also lost to Garcia in the SportData E-Tournament World Series finals last May.
De los Santos also triumphed in the Balkan Open eTournament, the Korokotta Cup last June and the Palestine International Karate Cup last April.
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