THREE Filipinos banner the country’s campaign in the 12th Shotokan Karatedo International Federation (SKIF) World Championship starting today in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Forty-one-year-old Ryan James Eamonn leads the charge for the three Filipino karatekas, who will face 800 competitors from 55 countries in the kumite event.
Siblings Sandino Miguel Garcia and Ninel Thyra Garcia will also represent the Philippines for their first international competition.
“On behalf of the Philipine Karatedo Federation [PKF], we are hoping that they will perform their best and make us proud,” PKF Secreaty-General Raymund Lee Reyes said.
Reyes believes that the Filipinos will shine again in the global circuit, just as the federation prepares for the tough challenges to the 2020 Tokyo Games.
“We are grooming our youth and junior players for 2020. This is our program to help them achieve their goals,” Reyes added.
He also mentioned that these competitions will groom future national team members for next year’s Southeast Asian Games in Malaysia.
Just last week, Orencio James de los Santos extended his reign in the male individual kata event when he outperformed several top-notch karatekas in the third World Shotocup in Cape Town, South Africa.
SKIF has been expanding its activities in over 130 countries worldwide. It started in Japan as a specific nonprofit organization established in 1978 by Sole Hirokazu Kanazawa.
In its recent edition in Australia in 2012, Japan, Kazakhstan, Denmark, Brazil and Indonesia dominated the field of over 50 countries.