By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Members of the Philippine Karate team vying for spots in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics are set to fly to Turkey after the Laguna bubble camp.
Karate Pilipinas will spend at least two months in Turkey for intensive training once their Inspire Sports Academy training program ends.
Top officials of PH karate bared that they chose Turkey because of the country’s high-level karate culture. The experiences of these karatekas can help them in upcoming tournaments.
“Turkey has one of the highest levels for karate in terms of sparring. They’re also good in kata. The sparring in Turkey, the training system is very high level,” Karate Pilipinas President Richard Lim said.
On February 4, the PH karatekas will fly to Portugal and will join the Karate Premier League before heading to training proper in Istanbul, Turkey on May 15.
Current members of the Karate Pilipinas under training at Laguna are Jamie Lim, Ivan Agustin, Alwyn Batican, Sharif Afif, and Jason Macaalay.
