Filipino-Japanese karateka Junna Tsukii nailed a career world No. 2 spot in the Karate Premier League annual rankings on Thursday, October 14.

Though it was a milestone for her, Tsukii’s goal was to top the table in the female -50kg category. She vowed to do better next year.

“My annual ranking from 2020 to 2021 is second in the world. This is not a satisfying result for me. I will do my best to be stronger,” Tsukii wrote on Facebook.

Tsukii tallied 2,760 points after clinching gold medals in Lisbon, Portugal and Cairo, Egypt that propelled her to the Top 2 spot.

Tsukii ranked behind Turkey’s Serap Ozcelik Arapoglu, who is also the world No. 1 in the separate World Karate Federation (WKF) rankings as she amassed 9,817.5 points.

On the other hand, the Filipino ranked No. 5 in the WKF after tallying 4,672.5 points.

The 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist fell short of a Tokyo 2020 Olympics bid when she bowed out of the Karate World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Paris after a loss to Ivet Goranova of Bulgaria, 2-1, in the female -55kg kumite event.

She had a chance to qualify for the Olympics via the continental quota and also earn a wild card spot through the Tripartite Commission invitation, but these did not work out to her favor.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Tsukii prepared for her Road to Tokyo in Japan, then left for Serbia to intensify her training. – Rappler.com