MANILA – Karateka James delos Santos is not anymore thinking of a possible return to the national team after he was intriguingly excluded from the group that dominated the Southeast Asian (SEA) Games last December.
“Honestly speaking, I don’t think I would be welcomed back after what happened last year,” he said during the online Usapang Sports Forum by the Tabloid Organization in Philippine Sports on Thursday.
Despite winning two SEA Games golds, the world ranked No. 2 in the men’s virtual kata category was snubbed from the Philippine squad after what he described as an “unprecedented closed-door evaluation” with only one month left before the start of the karatedo tournament.
The problem between delos Santos and the Philippine Karatedo Association (PKA) began when he was not included in those funded to go to Japan for a training camp.
“I felt that I was abandoned here in Manila,” he said of the initial snub.
Through the help of his sponsors and by shelling out some of his personal savings, he finally got to train in Japan for 50 days.
However, the training went down the drain after the PKA excluded him from the final lineup.
“I felt that it was really unfair,” he said.
Ten months after not making the SEA Games team, he insisted that he has moved on from it and is now focusing on overtaking Portuguese karateka Eduardo Garcia as the top male virtual kata player in the world.
Following a win in the Tokaido 10 Maribor Open on Sept. 14, delos Santos has now amassed 7,675 points, just behind Garcia who has 8,125.
Delos Santos defeated Garcia for the gold in the Sportdata E-Tournament World Series on Sept. 9.(PNA)
