THE hustle continues for Filipina-Japanese karateka Junna Tsukii.
Earlier this month, she bagged a gold medal in the 2021 Karate1 Premier League in Cairo, Egypt.
With just six seconds left in the clock, tied at 1-1 with hometown contender Areeg Rashed, Tsukii managed to throw a punch to score 2-1 at the women’s kumite -50kg event final.
What a 2021 it's been for Junna Tsukii
This victory marked her second gold medal success in the Karate1 Premier League. She also clinched gold in Lisbon, Portugal last May.
To seal her pandemic-era trifecta, the 29-year-old also nabbed the top spot in the Golden Belt Tournament in Cacak, Serbia last March.
It’s been a yearlong grind for Tsukii since she won gold in the 30th Southeast Asian Games on December 2019. But as she heads toward the last quarter of the fruitful year, she's dead set on one thing: becoming a world champion.
“This is just the beginning of the challenge to the world championships,” she told SPIN Life. “My biggest goal is to win the world championship, so I want to improve accordingly.”
Tsukii is currently ranked No. 7 in the World Karate Federation Female Kumite -50kg, and is vying for the top honors in the 2021 World Senior Championships to run on November 16 to 21 in Dubai.
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