Filipino karatekas Junna Tsukii and Jamie Lim will battle for the gold in their respective event finals in the 2021 Asian Karate Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Tsukii cruised to the final of the senior female -50kg kumite event after defeating South Korea’s Jung Ji-young, 4-1, trouncing Hong Kong’s Tsang Yee Ting, 9-0, and escaping United Arab Emirates’ Al Ajmi Hawraa, 3-2.

The Filipino-Japanese karateka will face home bet Moldir Zhangbyrbay of Kazakhstan to claim the top spot on Wednesday, December 22.

Lim, on the other hand, reached the final of the senior female -61kg kumite event after slipping past Chinese Taipei’s Ku Chih-Ling, 5-4, blanking Kyrgyzstan’s Kymbat Toitonova, 1-0, and defeating Jordan’s Joud Aldrous, 1-0.

The 24-year-old sets up a clash for the Asian championships title with United Arab Emirates’ Sarah Alameri on Wednesday.

Kata athlete John Enrico “Joco” Vasquez opened the country’s medal haul after securing a bronze medal in the male under-21 event. Filipino-Japanese Sakura Alforte followed with another bronze medal finish in the female senior kata event.

Lemon Misu clinched the country’s third bronze medal in the under-21 female -61kg kumite event after getting relegated to the repechage round, where she blanked Hong Kong’s Choi He Wood, 3-0. – Rappler.com