PHNOM PENH—Jamie Lim shunning social media reaped dividends in the form of a gold medal regained in karate at the 32nd Southeast Asian Games on Sunday.
“I had less of social media—no Tiktok and IG [IG]—in the last few months,” said Lim after beating hometown bet Vann Chakriya, 3-1, to rule the women’s -61 kgs individual kumite final at the Chroy Changvar Center Hall A.
She won the hearts of Filipinos with her gold medal won at home in the 2019 Games, but was bitten by the social media bug on her way to Hanoi last year and lost her title.
But she was the same Lim—the daughter of basketball legend Samboy Lim—wearing a gold medal around her neck here just like Sakura Alforte who won hers in women’s individual kata the other day.
“I was full of doubt in my first match because I faced an opponent who beat me in Vietnam. She left me with a black eye,” said Lim, referring to Thi Nguyen Ngoan, who she eventually booted out, 5-0.
“I just returned the favor [to Ngoan],” Lim said.
She defeated Malaysian Siti Nur Azwani Nor, 6-3, in her second match to set up a titular showdown with Chakriya.
Lim started to seriously train a month ago as she attended to her Business Analytics Master course at the Imperial College in London.
“I’m alone in London and had to train by myself,” she said. “There were times that I cried because of the difficulties that I encountered—studying and self training.”
Only Lim managed to win gold among five Filipinos who made the kumite finals.
Matthew Manantan (-67 kgs) and Ivan Agustin (-84 kgs) in the men’s category and Remon Misu(-68 kgs) and Ariane Brito (+68 kgs) in the women’s sde settled for silver medals.
Prince Alejo (-75 kg men’s) and Jayson Macaalay (-60 kg men’s) joined Joco Vasquez in men’s kata as the country’s bronze medalists in karate.