Junna Tsukii claims first SEA Games karate gold medal

By Waylon Galvez

Junna Tsukii defeated Dinh Thi Huong of Vietnam in the finals 1-0 to claim the gold medal in karatedo’s -50kg kumite event in the 30th Southeast Asian Games Saturday at the World Trade Center in Pasay City.

The 26-year-old Villanueva’s gold medal win was her first in the biennial meet as she came back strong following a heartbreaking loss two years ago in Kuala Lumpur SEA Games.

“In the last SEA Games I lost to Thailand. This year, I beat her in the semifinals,” Villanueva said. “I was [able] to beat her because I want to be in the finals. I’m happy now I won here in our country.”

Villanueva said that her setback in the Asian Games last year in Indonesia pushed her to train harder for the SEA Games.

“In Asian games I lost. I got the bronze… but even with bronze I felt I lost. I trained hard for long time. I competed in many tournaments. Now my next target is to get to the Olympics,” she said.

The national team, however, was denied of back-to-back gold medals in Day 1 of karatedo after Norman Montalvo lost to Selvam Prem Lumar of Malaysia in the 6-1 in the -55kg kumite men’s division.

Montalvo settled for the silver medal.

The national team also had two silvers courtesy of John Enrico Vasquez in men’s kata individual and Sarah Pangilinan in women’s kata individual.

Source: Manila Bulletin