De los Santos shook off South Africa’s Silvio Cerone-Biagoni, 25.2-23.7, in the men’s seniors individual kata event at the eChampions Trophy World Series #2.

However, this was not an easy task for the world’s top e-Kata karateka for he had encountered difficulties during the tournament together with his student, Fatima A-Isha Hamsain.

Both of them have arrived late at the Honbu Dojo and learned about the mall’s closing time which added pressure to them.

“My student and I arrived at the tournament venue at 11:20 a.m. Then the mall announced that they will be closing at 12 noon for everyone’s safety,” de los Santos shared.

“So we basically had around 30 minutes to finish everything. Despite the time pressure, we succeeded. But also because of the possibility of a brownout due to the typhoon, we rushed back home to upload our videos. And again, we succeeded,” he added.

On Haimsain’s end, she ruled over in the Under-15 individual Kumite category against Great Britain’s Lea Gayral, 3-0, in the finals.

Moreover, she landed a silver podium finish in the female Under-15 individual kata event topped by Jelizaveta Vasiljeva of Latvia.

Maharlika Karatedo Kai of the Philippines Christina Colonia and Julius Ian Marcos also copped medals in the event. 

Colonia nabbed gold in the female Under-18 individual, beating Scotland’s Hannah Benson, 22.3-20.8, while Marcos settled for silver in the female seniors Under-18 individual kata losing to Beatriz Alfonso of Portugal, 22.1-22.9.