James De Los Santos pays respect to gold medal match foe after win

James De Los Santos scored his most memorable gold yet.

By Ivan Saldajeno

MANILA--James De Los Santos could not help but commend his Hungarian opponent for putting up a good fight and even giving the judges a hard time deciding who will take the gold in the Katana Intercontinental League 4.

In what would be his closest gold medal conquest, the Filipino virtual kata player defeated Botong Nagy in the final of the said online event, 24.9-24.5, at the release of the results on Tuesday.

"Even though I emerged victorious, it was a very tough fight and an honor to be facing a kata player of such caliber," De Los Santos said about Nagy, who is currently ranked 39th globally by the World Karate Federation and 34th among Olympic hopefuls.

Nagy is more known for holding the Guinness World Record for the fastest roundhouse kick, completing one in just 0.476 second back in 2018.

"I would have to admit that this match meant a lot to me because my final opponent is Hungary's best senior male kata player.... This will be a very memorable 25th gold win," De Los Santos added.

De Los Santos first defeated Cornelius Johnsen of Norway in the quarterfinals before beating familiar foe Nejc Sternisa of Slovenia in the semifinals.

Nagy, on the other hand, took a first round bye before winning against Silvio Cerone-Biagoni of South Africa in the semifinals.

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