Tsukii snares gold in WKF tilt in Lisbon
FILIPINO karateka Junna Tsukii bagged the gold medal in the female -50kg category of the Karate Premier League at the Altice Arena in Lisbon, Portugal, on Sunday night (Philippine time).
Tsukii, who is of Japanese descent, defeated Kazahk Moldir Zhangbyrbay in the final of the event, 2-0, to also pocket the €750 prize or more than P43,000.
“Look at my first gold medal on the world caliber stage,” wrote Tsukii, 29, in a Facebook post early Sunday morning, captioning photos of her holding a gold medal and fighting in the competition.
“I would like to thank everyone who supported me to this point, this medal is for you,” added the 2018 Asian Games bronze medalist.
Tsukii went spotless in five fights in the tournament, scoring an outstanding 10-2 win over Colombian Daniela Gallego, a 2-1 victory over Iranian Sara Bahmanyar and a 1-1 triumph (3-2 flags) over Egyptian Radwa Sayed in the first round on Friday.
She then pulled an upset over twotime World champion and French Alexandra Recchia in the semifinals, 2-0, on the same day.
Tsukii, a 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist, is one of the Filipino karate Olympic hopefuls.
She hopes to make the Tokyo Olympics in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Paris, France, slated from
June 11 to 13 together with her Philippine karate teammates Jamie Lim, Joane Orbon, Alwyn Batican, Sharif Afif and Jason Macaalay.
The top three in each category of the tournament will qualify for the Games in July.