Revised Olympic qualification good for PH athletes — Lim

KARATE Pilipinas President Richard Lim said on Thursday the newly revised qualification system for the Karate competition at the Olympic Games next year in Tokyo, Japan would be beneficial to young Filipino karatekas, who aspire to become Olympians.

Lim cited the flame of youth as a prime advantage of his wards ‒ headed by Southeast Asian Games gold medalists Junna Tsukii and Jamie Lim, Ivan Agustin, Joane Orbon, Alwyn Batican and Sharief Afif ‒ over their foreign counterparts.

“Age is a big question. Like may mga (there are) players diyan na (there that are) about to retire na (already) but pinilit na lang maglaro kasi (they were obligated to participate because it was the) first time na (that) may (there was) karate sa (in the) Olympics. Eh, biglang na (But suddenly, there was) delay ng isang taon (by one year). So, paano (how is the) response ng katawan nila (of their body supposed to be)? To delay it for another year?,” Lim shared with The Manila Times in a phone interview on Thursday.

“Mas magiging pabor (It will be more beneficial) to improve more.”

Although no dates and venues were mentioned yet, the World Karate Federation announced on its website that it would reschedule the tourneys delayed in the Premier League in Madrid, Spain last April and the competitions postponed during the World Qualifying tournament in Paris this June.

All those who already qualified need not join the newly revised tournaments. The qualification will still be based on a points system while the 1-2-3 finishers per category of the last Olympic qualifying tournament in Paris, France will qualify for an Olympic spot.

The Tokyo Olympics, originally set for July 24 to August 9 this year, was rescheduled to next year from July 23 to August 8 due to the pandemic.