JAMIE LIM stayed in contention for a bronze medal despite losing in the quarterfinals of the women’s – 61 kgs class of kumite on Wednesday in the World Karate Federation (WKF) Senior World Championships at the Hamdan Sports Complex in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Lim, one of only four Filipino athletes competing in Dubai, bowed to Ukrainian Anita Serogina, 1-2.
But lucky for her, Serogina beat Canada’s Haya Jumaa by majority decision in the semifinals, giving Lim a shot at the bronze medal in the repechage. The Ukranian was scheduled to face Olympic champion Jovana Prekovic of Serbia in the finals.
Lim was seeded third in repechage where she will face Haya Jumaa in the battle for bronze.
Lim, gold medalist at the 2019 Southeast Asian Games, defeated Alana Kochieva of Russia, 4-2, in the opening round and Japanese Sarara Shimada of Japan by majority decision in the second round and Laura Sivert of France in the third round.
Despite falling short of the gold medal, Karate Pilipinas President Ricky Lim was satisfied with Lim’s performance.
“I am super happy because this is her first time to compete on the world stage and she surpassed four rounds,” Ricky Lim said in a message. “Plus a fact now that her Ukrainian rival, a Tokyo Olympian, won her seminal match, Jamie has a chance for the bronze.”
Junna Tsukii, also a gold medalist in the 2019 SEA Games, was scheduled to face Sara Radicevska of North Macedonia in the preliminaries of the -50 kg division later on Wednesday.
The kata competitions are set on Thursday with Joco Vasquez taking the mat at 9 a.m. (Dubai time) and Sarah Pangilinan at 1:30 p.m.