Tsukii banners karate squad

Junna Tsukii was evidently upset when her fight in the Southeast Asian Games in Cambodia didn’t go her way.

Returning to the mat on a bigger stage, Tsukii is determined to stamp out every trace of that forgettable defeat here in the 19th Asian Games.

“It was disappointing and I hope I can forget all about it with a win (in the Asian Games),’’ said the Filipino-Japanese karateka who lost to Malaysian Shahmalarani Chandran in the women’s -50kg in the Cambodia SEAG early this year.

The 32-year-old Tsukii will banner the eight-athlete Philippine karate team here with kata specialist Sakura Alforte and Jamie Lim, who will fight in the women’s -61kg kumite.

Tsukii is confident she could pull it off, her confidence went sky-high after striking gold in her weight division in the World Games last year in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.

Other members of the squad that will see action beginning Thursday are Arianne Isabel Brito (women’s -68kg), John Christian Lachica (men’s -60kg), Alwyn Batican (men’s -75kg), John Matthew Manantan (men’s -67kg) and Ivan Christopher Agustin (men’s -84kg).

The Philippines brought home only one bronze medal from the 2018 Asiad in Indonesia courtesy of Tsukii.

“We are hoping to improve on that finish. Hopefully, we get lucky this time,’’ said Karate Pilipinas chief Ricky Lim.