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Pinay karateka Junna Tsukii punches 2022 World Games ticket

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Manolo Pedralvez

SHE may have missed her ticket to the Tokyo Olympic Games last year, but Junna Tsukii gets to strut her wares on nearly just as huge a global stage after formally qualifying on Friday (early Saturday in Manila) as the first Filipino karateka to the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama.A gold medalist at the 30th Southeast Asian Games in 2019, Tsukii earned an outright spot in the women’s -50-kilogram division in the quota qualification system released by the World Karate Federation for the meet to be held from July 7 to 17 in the major industrial hub in the US.“This is a huge honor for our country since Junna is the first Filipino karateka to qualify for The World Games,” said Karate Pilipinas Sports Federation Inc. president Richard Lim, who was informed by the Tokyo-based karateka of the milestone in the wee hours of Saturday morning.Although the Japanese combat sport made its Olympic debut in Tokyo in 2021, karate has been a founding discipline of The World Games since it was first held in 1981 in Santa Clara, California featuring 58 countries vying in 108 events in 16 sports.“Junna was so delighted that she called me up at 5 o’clock in the morning to relay the good news,” Lim bared of the athlete’s entry into the quadrennial sportsfest composed mostly of non-Olympic sports that was last held in Wroclaw, Poland in 2017 but reset to 2022 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “A Big Congratulations to Karate Pilipinas National Team Member Junna Tsukii for getting a quota in the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, USA. Junna is the only South East Asian to qualify. Omedetou (congratulations in Japanese) Junna Tsukii Go Go Go Philippines!” Lim posted on the federation’s official <a href="https://www.facebook.com/karatepilipinas">Facebook</a> page. The karate chief said he was aware as early as March 1 that Tsukii would make the cut because of the WKF qualifying format of the meet and her current standings in her weight class in the WKF ratings.“Based on her No. 4 in the current rankings of the WKF she was already in but we had to wait for the formal announcement by the WKF last Friday to make it official,” he said.Based on the qualifying format, the champion, runner-up and the bronze medalist from the Senior World Karate World Championship held in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates last November earned outright slots to the TWG, according to Lim.But since Germany’s Shara Hubrich, currently No. 2 in the world ratings, was also a silver medalist at the worlds, Junna was promoted to the No. 3 spot and Kazakhstan&#x27;s Moldir Zhangbyrbay, who was No. 3, went up to No. 2, with Turkey’s Serap Ozcelik Arapoglu also qualifying as the No. 1.Hubrich was the losing finalist to Japanese champion Miho Mihayara in Dubai in the battle for the gold medal, while Ukraine’s Katerina Kryva bagged the bronze medal by beating Zhangbyrbay 5-3 in the faceoff between the losing semifinalists.Tsukii is the 3rd Filipino bet to qualify for the global sports showcase after Muay Thai’s Philip Delarmino, who topped the men’s -75kg division of the International Federation of Muay Thai Associations world championships in Phuket, Thailand last December; and Leeana Bade, daughter of former PBA player Cris Bade.Bade earned a wild card in the women’s 63.5-kg category through the efforts of Muay Thai Association of the Philippines secretary general Pearl Managuelod, who announced the development on the association’s <a href="https://www.facebook.com/officialmuaythaiphilippinesnsa">Facebook</a> account last Thursday. Filipinos have had relative success in the TWG, with reigning US Pool champion Carlo Biado bagging the gold medal in the men’s 9-ball event in Wroclaw 5 years ago. Cue ace Marlon Manalo also won a silver medal in snooker in the 2001 TWG in Akita, Japan while bowler Arianne Cerdena won pair of silvers in the women’s singles and mixed doubles with Jorge Fernandez in the 1985 edition held in Karlsruhe, Germany.

She may have missed a Tokyo Olympic Games slot but Tsukii, the reigning SEA Games champ, gets to strut her wares on nearly just as big a global stage.