JAKARTA, Indonesia – After winning a 2018 Asian Games bronze, Junna Tsukii now sets her sights on making it to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. 

The 26-year-old – who also won bronze medals in the 2017 Southeast Asian Games in the women’s -50kg kumite  individual and team events – made up for her lackluster 11th place finish in the Asian Championships last July . 

“Yes of course, I want to go to Olympics. It’s my goal,” said the Filipino-Japanese. 

Despite the controversies that hit the Philippine Karatedo Federation national sports association (PKF-NSA), Tsukii thinks the recent changes improved the national karatekas’ chances to qualify for the Olympics. 

“This year, we went to the Japan training camp, then we joined AKF (Asian Karatedo Federation) [championships] and I had a very good exposure also,” she said.

Tsukii has been training under former national karateka Richard “Ricky” Lim, the current caretaker of the national athletes following issues involving the sport’s officials.

“I want to join many tournaments, so I should get points for my rankings,” she added. 

Tsukii and the rest of the national team will next focus on the World Championships in Madrid, Spain this November and the Premier League in China this December. – Rappler.com