PH Karate team seeking to clinch Olympics berth in last OQT

By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

The Philippine national karate team is hoping to get the best results in the last Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) to punch tickets to Tokyo.

Junna Tsukii, Jamie Lim, Joane Orbon, Ivan Agustin, Shariff Afif, Alwyn Batican, Jason Macaalay, John Enrico Vasquez, and Sarah Pangilinan will be flying to Paris, France and participate in the last OQT from June 11-13.

There will be a huge chance that any of these karatekas from the PH will clinch a Tokyo Olympics medal if one of them manages a podium finish.

Leading them is superstar Tsukii who is fresh off a Karate Premier League title and will lead the delegation as she joins in the -55kg kumite event.

Meanwhile, Pangilinan will be representing the country in the female kata event while Macaalay will compete in the male -67kg kumite category.

The rest of the PH delegation will have to have at least a bronze medal to further boost their chances of making it into the Olympics.

This will be the last chance that the Filipinos will have to enter the prestigious sporting event and will have the opportunity to add to the 10 athletes who already qualified for Tokyo.