KP door still open for James
Karate Pilipinas, Inc. (KP) remains open to the possibility of reinstating James de los Santos to the national squad that will see action in the 31st Southeast Asian Games next year.
KP president Ricky Lim yesterday said De los Santos is still very much welcome to join the team, especially now that he is harvesting a lot of awards from online kata tournaments.
“We don’t want to badmouth him because we want him to absorb everything, let it sink in and then come back,” Lim said in a telephone conversation.
“Of course, we are open to everybody. There’s no personal agenda here; we’re all professionals. We based everything on records and achievements.”
De los Santos used to be one of the brightest stars in the national team roster.
KP, however, had no choice but to drop him after he failed to meet its standards that were based on records and achievements. He also failed to join the national selection last January that served as its basis on the composition of the national squad.
Joco Vasquez, who won in various international tourneys before the 30th Southeast Asian Games last year, took his spot in the men’s individual and team kata events.
We don’t want to badmouth him because we want him to absorb everything, let it sink in and then come back.
“We based everything on records and achievements so if you did not meet all of it, then we have to do something,” Lim said.
“We also had another selection process last January that he did not join. We really don’t know why. He didn’t say anything about it.” De los Santos is making waves in virtual tourneys.
He just clinched his 24th gold medal after ruling the prestigious 5th Sports Data E-Tournament World Series over the weekend.
With that, he tightened his grip on the No. 1 spot in all-time e-kata individual male seniors ranking.
“We’re happy for his achievements because he has been bagging a lot of gold medals and, at the same time, he clinched that top spot in the world ranking. However, that ranking is not in any way connected with the Olympic ranking or that of the WKF (World Karate Federation),” he said, adding that other karatekas are also busy chasing slots in the Tokyo Olympics.
In fact, Junna Tsukii edged world No. 6 Valeria Kumizaki in a pocket tourney in Serbia recently to boost her chances for the Olympic slot.
Lim said they are set to compete in an Olympic qualifier in Paris in June 2021 where he will deploy Tsukii, Jamie Lim, Joane Orbon, Sharief Afif, Ivan Agustin and Alwyn Batica. “Everybody has a good chance,” he said.
“We’re positive we can bring more athletes to the Olympics and hopefully win our first-ever gold.”