LEMON MISU made a moderate impact in her international debut by beating Hongkong’s Chow Hei Wood to bag the Philippines’ third bronze medal in women’s Under-21 – 61 kgs of kumite on Monday in the 17th Asian Karate Championships in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
The 20-year-old Misu scored a 3-0 victory in the bronze medal match but later expressed disappointment over her result.
Misu lost to Iranian Goldshadnezhad Atousa (1-0) in the first round and got her shot at the bronze in the repechage.
“I’m not satisfied and unhappy because I lost against Iran,” Misu told BusinessMirror through kata athlete John Enrico “Joco” Vasquez. “I have to train harder and wiser next time.”
Misu is a Filipino-Japanese born to the former Myrna Villanueva from Caloocan City and Japanese Sumio from Tokyo. She hardly speaks Filipino and English.
Vasquez clinched the country’s first bronze medal in the male under-21 and another Filipino-Japanese, Sakura Alforte, clinched the same medal in women’s senior both of kata on Sunday.
Vasquez said Misu has a bright future and could be a gold medal prospect in the 31st Southeast Asian Games in Hanoi in May.
“Her performance against Hong Kong was amazing. We know the Japanese aren’t satisfied with being just a second or third place, all they want is to win gold,” said Vasquez of Misu, who is a sophomore martial arts student at the Kokushikan University in Tokyo.
According to Karate Pilipinas President Ricky Lim, Alforte will also vie for the bronze medal in women’s kata junior class on Tuesday.
If Misu wasn’t satisfied with her performance, Lim was especially in her fight against Chow.
“We’re happy with the outcome and performance of Lemon,” Lim said. “It’s her first time and she showed a lot of promise.
The senior kumite competitions start on Tuesday with 2019 Southeast Asian Games gold medalist Junna Tsukii facing South Korea’s Jung Ji Young in Round 1 of the women’s 50 kgs category, and Jamie Lim, also a gold winner in 2019, fighting Chinese-Taipei’s Ku Chih-Ling in women’s 61 kgs class.
Alwyn Batican clashes with Hutapea Tebing of Indonesia in the second round of men’s 67 kgs and Ivan Agustin collides with Alzahrani Sultan of Saudi Arabia in the men’s 75 kgs division both of kumite.