James De Los Santos collects gold medal no. 50 after another dominant finish

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

 

Filipino prized karateka James De Los Santos etched another career milestone after achieving his 50th e-kata medal in just a year and a half.

Since taking over the world no. 1 spot in the virtual kata rankings, De Los Santos’ has not looked back and even became hungrier in achieving more in his e-kata career.

The Filipino topped the recently concluded third leg of the Katana Intercontinental League and outlasted a familiar rival in Matias Moreno Dormont of Switzerland.

De Los Santos started slow and needed to reach the semifinals to finally break loose and finally found his dominant form in the final round against Dormont.

The 31-year-old e-kata great edged the Swiss, 27.4-26.38, and provided another heartbreaking result in their storied virtual kata rivalry since last year.

De Los Santos was grouped with the heaviest names in the business and ousted them all: USA’s Alfredo Bustamante, Norway’s Cornelius Johnsen, and France’s Remi Bonneau.

Aside from nabbing his 50th international gold medal, the virtual kata stalwart also averaged a new career-high of 9.18 in the technical score.