MANILA – Filipina-Japanese karateka Junna Tsukii nabbed a gold medal in the World Karate Federation Premier League on Sunday evening in Lisbon, Portugal.
The 29-year-old Tsukii ruled the female Kumite-50 kilogram division after defeating Kazakhstan’s Moldir Zhangbyrbay in the championship round, 2-0.
The Filipina-Japanese karateka reached the championship after scoring a major upset over the two-time world champion Alexandra Recchia of France, 2-0, in the semifinals on Friday.
Prior to that, she earned a bye in the round-of-64. She dominated Colombia’s Daniel Gallego in the round-of-32, Iran’s Sara Bahmanyar in the round-of-16, and Egypt’s Radwa Sayed in the quarterfinals.
Tsukii used the tournament to solidify her chance of joining the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. The qualifying tournament will be in June in Paris, France.
The victory was Tsukii’s second consecutive golden finish after winning the Golden Belt Karate event in Serbia in March.
The Filipina-Japanese karateka was also a gold medal winner in the 2019 Southeast Asian Games and a bronze winner in the 2018 Asian Games./PN
